BV  199  .C4  H36  1913 
Hartshorne,  Hugh,  1885-1967. j 
Worship  in  the  Sunday  schooJJ 


/ ' 


MAY  3  0  lill 


WORSHIP  ^^CGic^t  '.v^^ 
IN  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

A  Study  in  the  Theory  and  Practice 
of  Worship 


HUGH  HARTSHORNE,  B.D.,  Ph.D. 


Instructor  in  Religious  Education  in 

Union  Theological  Seminary,  and  Principal  of 

The  Union  School  of  Religion 


PUBLISHED   BY 

^racterci  CoUege,  Columiiia  ^Hntbersittp 

NEW  YORK  CITY 

1913 


Copyright,  1913,  by  Hugh  Hartshorne 


To 
MY  FATHER 

AND 

MY  MOTHER 


FOREWORD  AND  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The  problems  of  religious  education  are  thrusting 
themselves  as  never  before  upon  the  attention  of 
the  American  people.  The  Sunday  school  is  coming 
to  take  its  rightful  place  in  the  central  stronghold 
of  the  church's  life.  Largely  through  the  efficient 
campaigning  of  the  Religious  Education  Association, 
the  principles  for  the  construction  and  teaching 
of  Sunday-school  curricula  have  been  thoroughly 
overhauled  and  restated  in  accordance  with  modern 
educational  ideas  and  practices.  In  the  classes 
pupils  are  really  being  taught  a  great  deal  about  the 
Bible,  about  the  heroes  of  history,  about  the  mean- 
ing of  life,  of  religion,  of  Christianity,  about  right 
conduct  in  social  relations.  But  the  service  of  wor- 
ship has  not  yet  been  taken  up  into  this  movement 
of  criticism  and  reconstruction.  It  still  stands 
detached,  ineffective,  contributing  Httle  or  nothing 
to  the  central  purpose  of  religious  education.  It  is 
therefore  hoped  that  this  short  study  of  Worship 
in  the  Sunday  School  may  serve  at  least  to  make 
clear  the  need  of  investigation  and  experiment  in 
this  field. 

The  attempt  is  made  to  define  the  purpose  of  Sun- 
day-school worship  in  terms  of  social  relationships 
and  attitudes.  With  such  a  purpose  in  mind,  the 
place  of  feeling  in  the  experience  of  worship  is  made 
prominent,  and  two  chapters  are  therefore  devoted 


vi  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

to  a  discussion  of  the  psychology  of  feeHng  in  its 
relation  to  education,  to  worship  and  to  experience 
as  a  whole.  Then  follows  a  description  of  the  method 
by  which  services  can  be  planned  and  conducted 
in  such  a  way  as  to  accomplish  the  educational 
purposes  of  worship.  Finally  a  method  of  securing 
evidence  of  the  effects  of  such  services  on  the  pupils 
is  proposed,  and  the  results  of  an  actual  experiment 
in  worship  are  presented.  And  thus  the  conclusion 
is  reached  that,  with  a  well-defined  purpose  and 
with  due  attention  to  the  nature  of  feeling,  the 
service  of  worship  in  the  Sunday  school  can  really 
be  made  both  an  efficient  educational  instrument 
and  a  means  of  training  in  the  experience  of  worship 
itself,  which  is  so  necessary  to  the  vitality  of  the 
religious  life. 

The  author  gratefully  acknowledges  his  indebted- 
ness to  Professor  George  Albert  Coe,  under  whose 
constant  and  careful  guidance  the  following  chapters 
have  been  written.  Without  his  generous  assist- 
ance at  every  stage  of  the  work,  this  brief  discussion 
of  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School  could  not  have  been 
carried  through.  In  those  aspects  of  the  subject 
which  involve  a  definite  point  of  view  regarding 
general  educational  theory,  the  author  feels  especially 
under  obligation  to  Professor  John  Angus  Mac- 
Vannel,  who  has  been  a  never  failing  source  of  in- 
spiration. From  Professor  Edward  Lee  Thorndike 
come  most  of  the  ideas  on  educational  psychology 
here  expressed.  The  members  of  the  Staff  of  the 
Union  School  of  Religion,  in  fulfilling  ably  their  regu- 


Foreword  and  Acknowledgments  vii 

lar  duties  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the  School, 
have  provided  much  of  the  material  for  this  study. 
The  author  therefore  feels  under  personal  obliga- 
tion to  them  all,  and  takes  this  opportunity  to 
express  his  appreciation  of  their  cordial  interest  in 
the  conduct  of  the  services.  Besides  such  acknowl- 
edgments as  are  made  in  the  text,  there  is  a  host  of 
friends  and  teachers  to  whom  the  writer  owes  more 
than  can  ever  be  known.  To  them  also  he  is  deeply 
grateful. 

H.  H. 

New  York  City 
June  1,  1913 


CONTENTS 


Page 


CHAPTER   I 

Introduction     ........  1 

CHAPTER   II 
The  Social  Function  of  Worship     ....  9 

CHAPTER   III 

The  Neglect  of  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School         .        28 

CHAPTER    IV 

The  Purpose  of  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School         .       44 

CHAPTER   V 

The  Nature  of  Feeling,  and  the  Place  of  Feeling 

in  Education       .......         59 

CHAPTER   VI 

The  Place  OF  Feeling  in  Worship     ....      110 

CHAPTER   VII 

An  Experiment  in  Sunday-School  Worship  .       133 

CHAPTER    VIII 

Evidences  of  the  Results  of  Worship     .  .  .      160 

CHAPTER   IX 

Conclusions  :     Guiding  Principles  for  the  Planning 

AND  Conduct  of  Sunday-School  Worship  .  199 

Bibliography  ........      204 


CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTION 

All  the  forces  of  social  uplift  and  individual  in- 
spiration are  the  obvious  concern  of  every  one  who 
claims  the  privilege  of  leading  men  Godward  along 
the  path  of  normal  religious  growth.^  America,  so 
long  the  land  of  risk  and  cure,  is  becoming  the  land 
of  prophylaxis.  The  spirit  of  prevention  has  its 
religious  and  educational  embodiment  in  the  en- 
lightened instruction  of  the  child.  The  Christian 
God  is  no  less  compassionate  in  preventing  than  he 
is  in  forgiving  sin.  Indeed,  have  they  not  most 
need  of  forgiveness  who,  by  sheer  neglect  of  avail- 
able knowledge,  have  let  their  children  grow  up  in 
unhappy  ignorance,  hoping  that  a  gracious  God  will 
mend  the  vessels  they  have  marred  in  making .^^ 

There  is  a  ministry  of  evangelism  and  a  ministry 
of  education;  but  it  is  the  failure  of  the  latter  which 
gives  occasion  for  the  first.  The  true  regeneration  of 
society  will  never  come  until  every  child  is  led  into 
the  light  of  Christian  manhood  or  womanhood,  not 
by  the  path  of  moral  or  physical  wreck  or  danger, 
but  through  the  natural  upbuilding  and  unfolding 
of  a  glad,  free  life,  guided  and  inspired  by  the  love 
of  those  who  are  privileged  to  be  his  teachers. 

1.  For  an  account  of  such  forces,  see  the  "Annual  Survey  of  Progress 
in  Religious  and  Moral  Education,"  for  1913,  by  H.  F.  Cope,  General  Secre- 
tary of  the  Religious  Education  Association, 


2  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

The  significance  of  childhood  in  education  has 
been  more  or  less  dimly  realized  from  prehistoric 
times,  but  it  is  only  recently  that  men  have  tried 
consciously  to  shape  the  life  of  the  child  so  that  what 
it  thinks  and  does  shall  be  brought  into  harmony  with 
social  needs.  We  no  longer  trust  to  a  blind  chance 
to  bring  the  wayward  boy  to  sober  maturity,  or  the 
scatter-brained  girl  to  the  dignity  of  eflBcient  woman- 
hood. Instincts  and  desires  and  tendencies,  it  is 
found,  do  not  educate  without  the  appropriate 
materials  for  their  satisfaction.  Nor  is  it  enough 
that  there  should  be  materials  without  instincts. 
We  do  not  expect  appetite  to  sustain  health  when 
there  is  no  food  to  satisfy  it;  nor  will  the  finest  bread 
in  the  world  keep  alive  a  man  who  is  dying  of  thirst. 
The  teacher  must  know  the  pupil.  He  must  know 
how  his  mind  expands,  unfolding  first  in  one  direc- 
tion, then  in  another,  much  as  the  plant  grows  leaf 
and  flower  and  fruit.  What  will  the  child  do  if  let 
alone,  and  what  can  he  be  led  to  do  if  aided  .'^  What 
contribution  to  world  history  does  society  demand 
of  him.^  What  must  be  offered  him  as  the  materials 
out  of  which  he  is  to  construct  a  life,  and  how  and 
with  what  effect  are  these  means  to  be  applied.'^ 
Such  questions  as  these  we  have  come  to  ask  re- 
garding general  education,  with  the  result  that  our 
whole  educational  system  is  being  transformed,  in- 
deed, revolutionized*.^ 

The  social  Significance  of  education  is  twofold. 

1.  Compare  Thorndike,  Education;  Cubberley,  Changing  Conceptions  of 
Education. 


Introduction  3 

It  looks  backward  over  the  experience  of  the  race 
and  seeks  to  embody  in  the  rising  generation  what 
has  been  found  of  value.  To  use  President  Butler's 
phrase,  education  is  "a  gradual  adjustment  to  the 
spiritual  possessions  of  the  race.  .  .  .  The  child 
is  entitled  to  his  scientific  inheritance,  to  his  liter- 
ary inheritance,  to  his  aesthetic  inheritance,  to  his 
institutional  inheritance,  and  to  his  religious  in- 
heritance." ^  While  individual  in  standpoint,  this 
sentence  gives  the  basis  of  social  control,  as  a  con- 
servative influence — conservative,  that  i^,  of  all 
that  is  good  in  the  past.  By  such  a  process  each 
generation  is  brought  under  the  control  of  the  domi- 
nant motives  and  ideals  and  methods  of  society.  It 
is  social  control,  not  through  the  exercise  of  politi- 
cal or  police  power,  not  through  emotional  appeal 
in  oratory  and  crowd  movements,  but  through  the 
early  formation  of  habits  that  correspond  to  the 
demands  of  the  prevaiHng  social  mores. 

From  the  other  point  of  view,  education  may  be 
thought  of  as  a  means  of  social  progress  and  devel- 
opment. As  Davidson  puts  it,  "Education  is  con- 
scious or  voluntary  evolution."  And  so  far  as 
evolution  is  conscious,  it  has  a  forward  look. 
There  is  an  adjustment  to  the  future  as  well  as  to 
the  present  and  the  past.  The  inherited  culture  of 
the  race  becomes  a  means  to  higher  racial  culture 
consciously  to  be  achieved,  instead  of  an  end  merely 
of  individual  endeavor.  That  we  have  discovered 
the  method   of  organic  evolution   does  not  imply 

1.  Butler,  The  Meaning  of  Education,  p.  17. 


4  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

that  we  are  helplessly  within  the  grip  of  mechanical 
powers  and  can  do  nothing  to  hasten  or  retard  the 
slow  and  stately  progress  of  the  race.  Rather  does 
the  discovery  that  we  are  within  a  process  whose 
method  is  understood  give  us  a  means  of  control 
over  the  process  itself.  We  may  use  the  method  of 
evolution  to  accomplish  the  social  purposes  which 
we  have  consciously  set  before  us.  And  this  method, 
as  Davidson  ^  says,  is  reahzed  in  education,  which, 
by  control  of  present  conditions,  achieves  an  adjust- 
ment to  the  conditions  of  the  life  to  be. 

All  education  is  concerned  with  the  individual's 
social  efficiency  and  with  his  own  satisfaction  or 
richness  of  life — with  conduct  and  appreciation. 
The  individual  and  society  are  correlative,  each  the 
condition  of  the  other  and  each  the  end  of  the  other's 
life.  The  past,  present  and  future  individuals,  who 
are  in  an  eternal  and  ideal  as  well  as  an  actual  and 
temporal  association,  are  the  only  conceivable  objects 
of  educational  theory  or  ethical  interest.  Yet  the  in- 
dividual, thought  of  apart  from  society,  is  an  abstrac- 
tion. When  we  deal  with  men,  women  and  children 
we  must  think  of  them  not  as  isolated,  but  as  in  some 
relation.  The  individual  has  been  called  a  nucleus  of 
relations.  General  educational  theory  recognizes  the 
interdependence  of  men,  and  emphasizes  their  present 
relationships  and  duties  as  members  of  the  State.  Re- 
ligious educational  theory  adds  the  conception  of  their 
mutual  dependence  on  God  and  emphasizes  their  eter- 

1.  Davidson,  A  History  of  Education,  p.  1.  Cf.  MacVannel,  Outline 
of  a  Course  in  the  Philosophy  of  Education,  pp.  3,  4,  28,  43  ff.,  etc. 


Introduction  5 

nal  relationships  and  privileges  as  children  of  God. 
There  is  no  absolute  line  of  division  between  these 
positions.  Both  recognize  that  the  individual  as  an 
end  is  gained  through  the  individual  as  a  means. 

Indeed,  the  conflict  between  self  and  others,  be- 
tween pleasure  and  duty,  is  largely  administrative, 
when  one's  view  of  life  is  dynamic.  The  educationist 
asks  how  he  can  produce  the  most  perfect  individual. 
And  the  answer  is  that  the  most  perfect  individual 
is  produced  only  by  his  own  activity  in  social  re- 
lations; that  efficiency  in  certain  kinds  of  social 
conduct  is  one  method  of  gaining  and  one  method 
of  judging  character.  He  sees  that  in  proportion 
as  this  conduct  is  socially  directed  and  centered  in 
the  good  of  others,  the  individual  grows  toward 
the  ideal  character  and  is  rewarded  by  satisfaction. 
It  is  the  aim,  therefore,  of  the  educator,  first,  to  get 
this  conduct  out  of  the  individual,  and,  second,  to 
make  it  deliberate,  that  is,  ethical.  He  strengthens 
the  social  interest  and  inhibits  the  self-interest,  in 
order  that  the  child  may  gain  that  highest  self- 
development  which  is  the  end  and  aim  of  life.^ 

The  conscious  aim  of  the  individual  must  there- 
fore be  the  service  of  all,  the  ideal  of  brotherliness. 
And  this,  in  Christian  ethics,  is  identified  with  the 
highest  satisfaction.  One  can  start  from  either  end 
of  the  line, — but  if  he  would  save  his  life,  he  knows 
he  must  lose  it;  and  if  he  lose  his  life,  he  knows  he 
will  save  it.    The  reward  of  service  is  sonship. 

1.  Cf.  Dewey  and  Tufts,  Ethics,  pp.  391-397;  MacVannel,  op.  cit..  Chap. 
VIII, 


6  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

The  key  to  the  proper  balance  between  the  tend- 
ency to  "sociaHze"  and  the  tendency  to  "individual- 
ize" Kes  in  the  word  "freedom. "  The  freeing  of  the 
individual  consists  in  making  habit  his  tool  and  not 
his  master.  He  must  be  given  the  power  to  gain 
consciously  chosen  purposes,  to  organize  his  experi- 
ence, not  around  external  rules  imposed  from  with- 
out, but  around  the  values  of  life  which  he  himself 
has  weighed  and  selected.  Education  must  give 
habits,  but  it  must  also  cultivate  attitudes.  It 
must  create  the  capacity  to  react  with  a  fine  sense  of 
appreciation  to  all  the  intricacies  of  social  relation- 
ship. Indeed,  it  is  the  attitude  of  a  man  which  we 
most  value.  His  acts  give  evidence  of  his  sympathy, 
but  it  is  his  desire  to  sympathize  that  most  comforts 
us.  The  act  becomes  for  us  the  symbol  of  the  atti- 
tude. So-called  secular  education  seeks,  among 
other  things,  to  develop  social  attitudes  needful  in 
the  relationships  of  men,  in  business,  politics,  recrea- 
tion. Rehgious  education,  if  it  be  Christian,  strives 
for  the  cultivation  of  Christian  attitudes.  It  makes 
for  the  growth  of  the  broadest  possible  outlook  on 
life.  It  is  interested  primarily  in  the  associations 
which  are  permanent  and  universal,  and  it  thinks  of 
the  individuals  so  associated  as  members  of  a  perma- 
nent and  universal  family — the  children  of  God. 

In  this  country  it  is  in  the  School  of  the  Church 
that  systematic  religious  education,  of  a  public 
nature,  is  to  take  place.  It  is  here  that  Christian 
attitudes  must  be  developed,  Christian  purposes 
formed   and  the  necessary  habits  acquired.     The 


Introduction  7 

day  school  gives  twenty-five  hours  a  week  to  its 
task.  The  Sunday  school  gives  an  hour  and  a  half, 
or  less.  It  is  an  important  problem,  therefore,  to 
discover  how  this  time  can  be  most  effectively  used. 
The  discussion  which  follows  is  an  attempt  to  show 
how  the  assembly  of  the  school,  short  and  infrequent 
as  it  is,  can  become  an  effective  instrument  for  the 
training  of  children  in  Christian  attitudes  and  in 
Christian  worship. 

It  is  thus  suggested  that  one  function  of  the  School 
of  the  Church,  as  an  institution  for  Christian  edu- 
cation, is  to  control  its  pupils  so  as  to  develop  within 
them  Christian  attitudes.  The  next  chapter  at- 
tempts to  show  how  worship,  in  the  course  of  his- 
tory, has  come  to  be:  A  means  by  which  a  leader 
controls  a  group  in  such  a  way  as  to  develop  attitudes 
of  social  value;  and  an  experience  within  which  the 
members  of  the  group  may  realize  the  largest  social 
fellowship.  Chapter  III  then  points  out  how,  in 
spite  of  the  social  and  religious  importance  of  wor- 
ship, the  significance  of  the  Sunday-school  service 
for  religious  education  has  not  been  generally  recog- 
nized. In  Chapter  IV,  the  purpose  of  the  Sunday- 
school  service  is  made  definite  in  terms  of  certain 
specific  attitudes  to  be  developed  through  efficiently 
controlled  worship.  This  brings  up  the  problem 
of  the  psychology  of  feeling.  Chapters  V  and  VI, 
therefore,  indicate  in  a  general  way  what  the  nature 
of  feeling  is  and  what  place  it  occupies  in  education 
and  in  the  experience  of  worship.  The  way  in  which 
services  have  been  constructed  and  carried  out  in 


8  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

accordance  with  the  purposes  and  methods  so  far 
suggested  is  shown  in  Chapter  VII.  In  Chapter  VIII 
a  few  indications  of  the  effects  of  these  services  are 
given,  while  Chapter  IX  attempts  to  formulate 
the  results  of  the  whole  discussion  in  a  few  guiding 
principles  for  the  planning  and  conduct  of  worship 
in  the  Sunday  school. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE   SOCIAL  FUNCTION  OF  WORSHIP 

The  origin  of  ritualistic  practices  is  manifold. 
They  have  their  roots  in  the  primitive  impulses  and 
needs.  The  original  springs  of  human  activity  supply 
the  substance,  as  the  environing  conditions  supply 
the  forms  of  religious  observances.  ^  Food,  sex, 
defense  and  play  all  contribute  motifs  for  the  ac- 
cumulation of  those  social  customs  which  we  term 
ritualistic.  But  the  form  which  these  customs  take 
is  largely  determined  by  the  circumstances  of  human 
existence.  The  much  quoted  case  of  the  Todas  ^ 
of  southern  India  shows  how  the  prevailing  way  of 
satisfying  the  need  for  food  through  the  raising  of 
buffalo  and  the  extensive  use  of  milk  products  has 
given  form  to  most  of  their  ceremonials.  In  contrast 
with  this,  the  ritual  of  the  North  American  Hopis,' 
who  live  on  the  desert  near  the  Grand  Canon,  is 
concerned  with  the  interests  of  desert  Hfe — the  rais- 
ing of  grain,  the  coming  of  the  rainy  season,  and  so 
on.  Describing  a  rain-making  ceremony  among  the 
Zunis  of  the  South  West,  J.  G.  Frazer  says,  in  part:'' 

1.  Ames,  E.  S.,  Psychology  of  Religious  Experience,  Chap.  III. 

2.  Rivers,  The  Todas. 

3.  Frazer,  J.  G.,  Totemism  and  Exogamy,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  229,  with  bibliog- 
raphy. 

4.  Op.  cit.,  p.  235  ff. 

9 


10  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

"Each  of  the  priests  possesses  certain  fetishes,  or  sacred  instru- 
ments, which  he  uses  in  his  professional  business.  They  are  hol- 
low reeds,  some  filled  with  water  and  others  with  edible  seeds  of 
all  the  kinds  known  to  the  Zunis.  In  one  of  the  water-filled  reeds 
there  is  kept  a  small  toad  which  seems  to  thrive  in  its  cramped 
quarters.     .     .     . 

"At  a  rain-making  ceremony  in  winter  the  priest  draws  a  pic- 
ture of  a  cloud  with  pollen  and  meal  on  the  ground  and  places  the 
water-filled  and  seed-filled  reeds  on  the  picture.  This  is  the  most 
solemn  part  of  the  ceremony;  the  hearts  and  minds  of  all  concerned 
are  now  filled  with  adoring  wonder  at  these  holiest  of  fetishes  and 
with  a  trembling  hope  that  the  gods  will  thus  be  moved  to  water 
the  earth.  It  is  a  supreme  moment  to  the  Zunis  and  has  been 
compared  by  an  eyewitness  to  the  administration  of  the  Holy 
Eucharist  in  the  Catholic  Church.  Afterwards  the  priest  with 
the  assistance  of  a  female  associate  consecrates  a  mixture  of  water, 
meal  and  a  powdered  root  in  a  bowl,  and  standing  up  whirls  a  bull- 
roarer,  while  the  associate  whips  the  contents  of  the  bowl  into 
frothy  suds  symbolic  of  clouds,  and  another  associate  plays  the 
flute.  .  .  .  Next  the  priest,  laying  aside  the  bull-roarer,  dips 
two  eagle  feathers  in  the  holy  water  and  with  it  sprinkles  the 
offerings.  All  night  long  the  appeal  to  the  gods  is  crooned  in  low, 
weird,  yet  musical  tones." 

But  varied  as  are  the  origins  and  forms  of  ritualis- 
tic practices,  they  are  alike  in  this,  that  they  are  all 
maintained  for  some  more  or  less  definite  purpose. 
This  purpose  naturally  varies  with  the  conditions  of 
existence,  but  the  fact  of  practical  intention,  how- 
ever hazy  it  may  be,  is  always  present.  The  cere- 
mony may  take  the  form  of  an  actual  participation 
in  the  practical  process  itself,  as  in  the  cases  just 
-mentioned.^     Or  it  may  be  for  the  purpose  of  re- 

1.  Cf.  also  Sumner,  Folkways,  p.  123;  Henke,  F.  G.,  A  Study  in  the  Psy- 
chology of  Ritualism,  p.  10. 


The  Social  Function  of  Worship  11 

moving  some  social  taboo  or  overcoming  "negative 
magic";  ^  or  for  overcoming  distinctions  which  have 
grown  up  between  the  sacred  and  the  secular,  and 
so  providing  for  intimate  association  with  the  sacred;^ 
or  it  may  be  used  in  an  educational  way  in  initiatory 
rites,  to  inculcate  the  tribal  mores  in  the  proper 
emotional  setting,^  and  so  on. 

Recent  authors  seem  to  have  established  the 
theory  that  religion  and  religious  practices  have 
grown  up  within  and  have  emerged  from  the  evolv- 
ing social  consciousness.  The  impulses  which  make 
a  man  religious  are  of  course  inherited,  just  as  is 
his  physique,  but  the  form  which  his  religious  con- 
sciousness takes  is  moulded  by  the  situations,  physi- 
cal and  social,  with  which  he  has  to  deal  from  his 
childhood  up.  The  steps  in  the  development  of  re- 
ligious practices  can,  for  the  most  part,  be  referred 
to  changes  in  the  social  matrix.  And  these  changes, 
further,  are  due  to  the  enlargement  of  a  socially 
conserved  experience,  which  is  the  product  of  the 
interaction  between  a  changing  environment  and 
new,  as  well  as  changing,  individual  minds.  Cere- 
mony is  a  social  reaction  in  a  double  sense.  It  is  a 
group  custom,  and  therefore  prescribed  for  the  indi- 
vidual; and  it  also  has  reference  to  other  minds  with 
which  the  worshiper  is  or  is  conceived  to  be  in  some 
relation. 

In  working  out  this  theory  of  the  social  origin  of 
religious  practices,  the  place  of  the  individual  has 

1.  Ames,  op.  cit.,  pp.  88  ff- 

2.  Durkheim,  Les  Formes  Elementaires  de  la  Vie  Religieuse,  pp.  440  ff, 

3.  Durkheim,  op.  cit.,  pp.  465  ff. 


12  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

perhaps  been  under-emphasized.^  The  social  con- 
sciousness seems  sometimes  to  be  given  an  almost 
personified  significance,  as  though  it  could  exist 
per  se,  somewhere  else  than  in  the  individual  mind. 
Rather  must  we  refer  back  to  the  contents  of  the 
individual  consciousness  for  an  explanation  of  every 
change  in  the  social  consciousness.  All  variations, 
whether  of  body  or  mind,  are  in  the  first  place  varia- 
tions of  the  individual,  and  may  be  by  heredity  or 
communication  transferred  to  other  individuals. 
Back  of  every  custom  and  every  change  in  custom 
stands  the  variant  individual.  But  it  may  be  here 
objected  that,  although  individuals  may  be  a  deter- 
mining factor  in  the  birth  of  custom,  yet  no  custom 
at  its  birth  is  religious.  Rather  must  it  acquire 
a  social  value,  and  by  habit  become  associated  with 
the  furtherance  of  some  social  end,  before  it  can  be 
called  religious;  ^  and  by  that  time  the  individuaFs 
initiating  influence  is  lost  in  the  greater  force  of 
social  pressure.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  however, 
that  there  is  a  certain  stage  in  which  there  is  only 
social  custom,  and  then  a  later  stage  in  which  some 

1.  Irving  King,  for  example,  in  The  Development  of  Religion,  Chap.  V, 
in  dealing  with  "The  Origin  of  Religious  Practices,"  is  so  intent  on  pointing 
out  the  social  origin  of  ceremonials  that  the  contribution  of  the  individual 
is  overlooked. 

2.  The  following  sentences  from  King,  op.  cit.,  p.  82,  may  suggest  how 
this  takes  place.  "Thus  of  the  Hurons  we  are  told, '  "their  remedies  for 
diseases;  their  greatest  amusements  when  in  good  health;  their  fishing,  their 
hunting  and  their  trading;  the  success  of  their  crops,  of  their  wars,  of  their 
council;  almost  all  abound  in  diabolical  ceremonies."     .     .     .' 

"In  all  such  cases,  the  religious  practices,  as  they  are  called,  are  hardly 
above  the  level  of  practical  expedients.  Perhaps  one  reason  why  these 
simple  ceremonies  have  been  regarded  as  religious  has  been  that  they  are 
quite  Uke  the  genuine  religious  practices  of  a  later  stage  of  development. 
As  certain  of  these  values  stand  out  and  acquire  greater  prominence  in  the 
social  consciousness,  they  become  in  so  far  religious,  and  the  activities, 
which  were  before  only  practical  expedients,  are  now  transformed  into  re- 
ligious ceremonials," 


The  Social  Function  of  Worship  13 

customs  have  been  transformed  into  rites.  It  would 
hardly  do  to  say  that  at  any  stage  there  were  no 
customs  which  had  become  religious  rites.  The  proc- 
ess of  raising  customs  to  the  level  of  rehgious  prac- 
tice and  the  process  of  forming  new  customs  go  on 
at  the  same  time.  The  new  customs  are  ever  furnish- 
ing material  for  the  elaboration  of  rites.  But  how 
is  this  material  selected.'^  The  variant  individual 
must  be  the  originating  factor  in  this  selection.  He 
who  holds  the  secrets  of  the  mysteries  can  alone 
open  the  doors  of  tradition  to  welcome  the  new  and 
the  different. 

But  admitting  for  a  moment  the  whole  weight  of 
social  pressure  as  determining  the  general  form  of 
the  ceremony,  there  is  yet  the  control  of  any  single  in- 
stance of  its  observance  to  be  accounted  for.  Where 
there  are  no  calendars,  no  absolute  dates,  how  can 
the  beginning  of  a  rite  be  fixed  upon?  Evidently 
some  individual — either  the  rehgious  leader  of  the 
group,  or  some  one  in  the  group  who  is  more  awake 
to  the  changes  of  the  season,  or  more  responsive  to 
the  passage  of  time — must  supply  the  cue.  Further, 
many  ceremonies  are  not  seasonal  or  regular  at  all, 
but  have  to  do  with  accidental  events  such  as  birth, 
death,  war,  pestilence.  Who  starts  these  ceremonies.'^ 
Some  one  must,  and  however  much  a  slave  to  tra- 
dition he  may  be,  yet  is  he  for  the  time  being  the 
controlling  factor  in  this  ceremony.^ 

This  is  seen  with  especial  vividness  in  such  prac- 
tices as  occur  in  revivals.     Disregarding  for  the  mo- 

1.  That  some  kind  of  leadership  is  present  is  recognized  by  Ames. 
op.  cit.,  p.  71,  but  the  significance  of  leadership  is  not  traced  out. 


14  Worship  iri  the  Sunday  School 

ment  the  influence  of  the  official  leader,  we  see  that 
what  "sets  the  thing  off"  is  some  more  suggestible 
individual.  It  is  true  that  he  will  do  what  the  so- 
cial consciousness  expects  of  him — ^but  the  social 
consciousness  may  provide  him  with  a  variety  of 
possible  reactions.  He  may  start  by  "speaking  in 
tongues,"  or  he  may  roll  on  the  floor,  or  he  may 
simply  pass  forward  and  repeat  a  formula.  Which- 
ever is  done  first  the  rest  will  do,  so  that,  in  a  real 
sense,  some  individual  may  be  said  to  control  the 
practice  at  that  moment.^ 

Such  control  is  of  course  unconscious.  It  is  itself 
a  phase  of  crowd  action.  But  not  so  the  control 
which  the  leaders  of  the  group  exercise.^  As  soon 
as  some  one  individual  "comes  to  himself"  and  is 
differentiated  as  a  separate  personal  consciousness, 
so  that  he  can  distinguish  between  his  own  ends  and 
the  ends  of  the  group,  and  hence  make  consciously 
for  the  one  or  the  other,  then  control  becomes  delib- 
erate. In  the  case  of  the  revival,  the  leader  has  a 
definite  aim  in  mind  and  he  uses  such  ritual  or  cus- 

1.  Cf.  Davenport,  F.  M.,  Primitive  Traits  in  Religious  Revivals,  pp. 
50  e.,  225  e.,  Chap.  XII. 

2.  Le  Bon,  The  Crowd,  Book  II,  Chap.  Ill,  "The  Leaders  of  Crowds 
and  Their  Means  of  Persuasion."  Compare  also  the  following  from  some 
unpublished  lectures  of  G.  A.  Coe's  (paraphrased): 

"Religion  is  a  group  phenomenon,  but  it  is  influenced  in  most  important 
ways  by  the  variant  individual.  In  religious  societies  an  individual  may  be 
important  because  he  either  (a)  Embodies  in  especial  fulness  the  present 
life  interest  of  the  group  (Shaman) ;  or  (b)  Sways  the  group  toward  one  of 
several  such  interests  (Priest) ;  or  (c)  Dissents  from  present  interests  or 
customs  and  modifies  them  (Prophet). 

"  The  leadership  of  the  Shaman  is  due  to  the  fact  that  he  relieves  emotional 
tension  in  some  crisis  by  focalizing  the  group-consciousness,  and  partly  by 
leading  to  successful  action.  The  leadership  of  the  priest  consists  chiefly 
in  maintaining  and  developing  ceremonies,  sacred  literatures  and  education. 
The  prophet  seeks  to  return  from  conventionalized  religion  or  religious 
decay  to  the  source  of  religion.  Ethical  group  action  is  sought,  and  this 
implies  transfer  of  authority  from  the  apparent  compulsion  of  the  automatic 
to  deliberately  approved  ideals." 


The  Social  Function  of  Worship  15 

tomary  religious  practices  as  he  thinks  will  get  that 
result.  And  it  is  not  very  different  in  the  case 
of  some  primitive  ceremonial.  The  medicine  man 
wishes  to  bring  rain.  He  initiates  the  ceremony 
which  is  supposed  to  have  rain  as  its  effect.  That 
the  people  also  wish  rain  and  want  the  ceremony 
does  not  detract  from,  but  only  adds  to  the  extent 
of  his  control — he  now  holds  the  key  to  the  satis- 
faction of  their  wants,  and  that  is  the  secret  of  all 
permanent  control.^ 

The  fact  that  these  practices  are  prescribed  by 
tradition  does  not  exclude  the  fact  that  the  leader 
may  use  them  for  his  own  ends.  This  type  of 
situation  is  usually  limited  to  the  affairs  of  a  small 
group  or  even  of  only  one  person.  It  is  commonly 
called  magic.  But  it  may  take  on  larger  proportions, 
and  a  small  coterie  of  religious  leaders  may  seek  their 
own  private  ends  through  the  control  of  public 
ritual.^  To  assert  that  some  such  private  interest 
is  involved  in  the  control  of  ritualism  wherever  a 
leader  is  dealing  with  a  "crowd"  consciousness 
would  need  wide  proof.  That  it  is  sometimes 
present,  as  the  interest  of  either  an  individual  or  a 
single  institution,  is  suggested  by  reference  to  some 
of  the  practices  of  the  Catholic  Church,  to  the  work 
of  Dowie^  and  Mrs.  Eddy,^  and  some  of  the  Mor- 
mon leaders. 

1.  Cf.  Menzies,  History  of  Religion,  pp.  312-313,  on  the  place  of  the 
priest  in  Roman  ritualism. 

2.  Cf.  Breasted,  J.  H.,  Development  of  Religious  Thought  in  Ancient 
Egypt,  pp.  307  ff.,  363  ff. 

3.  Cf.  John  Swain,  "John  Alexander  Dowie;  The  Prophet  and  Hie 
Profits,"  Century,  Vol.  42,  p.  933. 

4.  Cf.  Powell,  L.  B.,  Christian  Science,  pp.  98-107. 


16  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

As  more  and  more  members  of  the  group  become 
individualized,  leadership  must  become  ethicized, 
and  the  purposes  of  the  leaders  must  more  and 
more  be  guided  by  the  ends  which  the  whole  group 
consciously  sets  before  itself.  At  this  point  wor- 
ship becomes  democratized  and  leadership  itself 
becomes  a  means  by  which  the  social  will  is  ex- 
pressed. Control  is  now  truly  social  and  can  never 
again  become  purely  individual.  But  that  indi- 
vidual leadership  is  still  needed  in  some  form  is  a 
fact  which  grows  out  of  the  survival  within  men  of 
the  tendency  to  group  themselves  about  a  leader, 
and  of  the  survival  in  society  of  forms  of  worship 
which  depend  for  their  observance  on  the  presence 
and  participation  of  a  leader  of  worship.  As  long 
as  worship  remains  a  feature  of  group  activity,  it 
must  involve  some  kind  of  leadership,  whether 
independent  or  accountable  to  the  group. 

After  describing  the  fundamental  human  im- 
pulses and  showing  by  frequent  illustration  that 
"ritualism  is  built  upon  this  native  endowment," 
Henke  proceeds  to  point  out  the  place  of  thinking 
or  attention  in  the  formation  of  rites.  It  is  in  the 
shock  of  some  crisis,  where  habit  and  blind  impulse 
are  no  longer  sufficient  for  adequate  adjustment, 
that  attention  is  born.^ 

The  function  of  attention  is  to  throw  the  indi- 
vidual back  upon  his  resources,  and  to  give  him  a 
chance  to  draw  more  widely  from  his  experiences. 

1.  Henke,  op.  cit.,  p.  21. 


The  Social  Function  of  Worship  17 

It  is  at  this  phase  of  development  that  the  end  sought 
is  "brought  into  consciousness"  in  the  form  of  an 
idea.  When  the  objects  of  instinctive  endeavor 
are  thus  made  the  ends  of  conscious  action,  two 
worlds  are  born — the  world  of  self  and  the  world 
of  values.  Each  individual  comes  to  feel  in  his 
own  consciousness  a  distinction  between  himself 
and  his  surroundings.  The  self  dissatisfied  is  con- 
trasted with  the  self  conceived  as  satisfied.  Pres- 
ent need  or  desire  is  defined  in  terms  of  a  future 
satisfaction  to  be  gained  from  the  external  world. 
When  an  ideal  satisfier  is  made  the  object  of  effort, 
"evaluation"  begins  as  a  type  of  mental  action.^ 
Purpose  and  choice  become  factors  in  human  de- 
velopment. Certain  of  these  values  which  are  the 
common  possession  or  desire  of  the  group,  gather 
around  themselves  group  actions,  born  of  ancient 
custom.  Such  of  these  activities  as  have  acquired 
a  peculiar  significance  from  their  relation  to  the  so- 
cial welfare  form  the  body  of  religious  ceremonial, 
which,  in  its  modern  form,  is  "public  worship."  The 
development  of  religious  ritual  is  thus  seen  to  have 
a  double  aspect — the  evolution  of  values  and  the 
evolution  of  practices. 

The  factors  which  enter  in  to  alter  forms  are 
many.  The  variation  in  the  individual  has  already 
been  mentioned.  As  long  as  thought  is  uncritical, 
unscientific,  these  variant  forms  usually  appear  as 
additions    to    or    elaborations    of    the    ritual.     The 

1.  Cf.  Coe,  "Religious  Value,"  Journ.  Phil.  Psych.  Sci.  Meih.,  Vol.  V, 
No.  10,  1908. 


18  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

development  is  therefore  in  the  direction  of  com- 
plexity, as  is  illustrated  by  the  religious  practices  of 
the  Hebrews  after  their  settlement  in  Canaan. 
The  consequence  of  this  tendency  is  to  put  ritual 
more  and  more  under  the  control  of  an  individual 
or  a  special  class,  whose  special  function  it  is  to 
know  and  conserve  the  accurate  forms  of  worship. 
No  change  in  the  social  consciousness  is  needed  to 
account  for  such  accretions  to  the  ceremonies. 

But,  as  Henke  has  illustrated,^  there  is  a  close 
relation  between  changes  in  the  social  consciousness 
and  the  practices  of  religion.  These  he  divides  into 
five  classes,  and  the  influence  in  each  case  is  seen  to 
be  one  of  criticism  and  elimination.  (1)  Crises; 
for  example,  transitions  from  one  type  of  life  to 
another.  The  ceremonies  of  the  nomads  fall  into 
disrepute  when  they  take  up  agriculture  (The  He- 
brew cultus  an  exception).  (2)  The  religious 
genius  actually  opposes  and  reforms  current  reli- 
gious practices.  (3)  A  great  change  in  fortune — 
calamity  or  vice  versa.  (4)  The  rise  of  scientific 
explanations  and  mechanical  notions.^  Exorcism 
becomes  unpopular.  (5)  Complete  socialization  of 
the  universe.  The  god  becomes  rational  and  social. 
But  the  influence  of  these  forces  on  ritualism  is  not 
so  direct  as  the  more  primitive  variations  noted 
above.  The  second  type  mentioned,  the  prophetic 
reform,  may  indeed  result  in  direct  change  from 
individual  influence.  But  this  change  is  of  no 
social  consequence  unless  it  is  accompanied  by  a 

1.  Henke,  op.  cif.,  Chap.  VI. 

2.  See  page  21  note  1. 


The  Social  Function  of  Worship  19 

change  in  social  valuations.  And  so  with  all  the 
other  changes.  They  are  the  consequence  of  evo- 
lutions of  value.  Things  once  thought  worth  while 
are  no  longer  striven  for.  The  ceremonials  grouped 
around  such  values  therefore  cease  to  keep  any 
hold  on  those  for  whom  these  values  no  longer 
exist.  Much  of  the  symbolic  ritual  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  for  example,  was  dropped  by  the  Protestants 
because  of  the  attacks  of  the  Reformers  on  the  things 
symbolized. 

The  forms  of  religious  practice  are  thus  seen  to 
be  determined  as  much  indirectly  by  the  evolution 
of  value,  as  by  the  more  direct  elaborations  already 
described. 

Through  these  changes  in  ritual  the  fact  of  ritual 
itself  gradually  comes  under  observation  and  criti- 
cism. It,  too,  is  rationalized  as  in  some  forms  of 
Christianity,  or  in  some  secret  societies.  Whereas 
formerly  only  the  leader,  if  anyone,  recognized  the 
real  nature  of  ritualistic  observance  as  affecting 
not  the  gods  but  men,  so  now  the  whole  group 
comes  to  regard  the  rites  as  a  means  of  changing 
men,  that  is,  of  social  control.  Such  is  the  use  of 
ritual  in  the  Greek  letter  fraternities  and  similar 
societies.  The  effect  of  the  rites  upon  the  neophyte 
is  well  recognized  by  the  group.  Again,  the  ritual 
of  legal  procedure  has  been  carried  over  from  the 
time  when  religion  and  law  were  not  separated.  It 
no  doubt  assisted  in  preserving  respect  for  authority 
and  in  securing  order.  Under  the  influence  of 
democracy  it  is  gradually  being  simpUfied  or  elimi- 


20  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

nated.  The  flag  drill  held  in  our  public  schools 
is  another  case  in  point.  It  is  definitely  planned 
so  as  to  develop  allegiance  to  the  country. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  changes  in  value  are  a  large 
factor  in  the  determination  of  form.  What,  then, 
controls  the  changes  in  value  .^^  On  page  18,  referring 
to  Henke,  these  changes  were  ascribed  to  develop- 
ments of  the  social  consciousness  as  classified  under 
five  heads.  To  go  still  further  back  and  attempt  to 
discover  the  sources  of  this  movement  in  the  social 
consciousness  would  more  properly  be  a  study  in 
sociology.  But  perhaps  we  can  go  far  enough  to 
see  that  here  again  the  individual  is  a  moving  factor. 
This  w^as  noted  by  Henke  specifically  in  the  case  of 
the  religious  genius,  w4io  directly  reforms  the  inter- 
ests and  ideas  of  the  group.  The  difference,  how- 
ever, is  one  of  the  field  of  operation.  The  scientific 
genius,  the  mechanical  inventor,  the  great  warrior, 
are  also  creators  and  destroyers  of  custom.  And 
in  a  lesser  degree,  so  are  all  original  minds.  This 
is  true  especially  w^here  the  typical  social  reaction 
is  that  of  the  crowd.  Here  the  most  suggestible 
leads,  and  so  far  as  the  crowd  possesses  a  variety  of 
possible  reactions,  what  they  do  is  determined  by 
the  kind  of  value  in  which  the  most  suggestible 
member  of  the  group  is  interested.  He  sets  the 
pace,  not  only  for  acts  but  for  the  objects  of  activity, 
so  far  as  choice  is  possible.  This  is  most  clearly 
seen  in  the  fashions  of  the  day.  Every  fashion  is 
started  by  someone,  and  its  spread  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  a  value  is  now  attached  to  something 


The  Social  Function  of  Worship  21 

previously  regarded  as  valueless,  or  not  even  thought 
about  at  all.^ 

But  through  the  increase  in  the  number  of  well- 
developed  individuals,  the  crowd  reaction  becomes 
gradually  transformed  into  or  supplemented  by 
ethical  group  reaction.  Values  then  become  less 
and  less  matters  of  suggestion,  and  are  more  and 
more  dependent  upon  reflective  thinking  on  the 
part  of  all  the  group. ^ 

The  presence  of  reflective  thinking  leads  to  the 
inclusion  of  the  values  themselves  as  an  object  of 
criticism.  The  contrast  between  the  self  and  the 
future  satisfaction  sharpens  the  sense  of  self.  It 
is  found  that  some  things  satisfy  and  some  do  not. 
So  far  as  reflective  thinking  is  present,  a  choice  must 
be  made  between  such  things  as  give  more  or  less 
satisfaction.  And  the  basis  of  choice  is  always  the 
Self.  Only  those  values  therefore  can  be  ultimately 
sought  which,  to  use  Professor  Coe's  terminology, 
are  adequate,  permanent,  and  unified,  which  min- 
ister to  a  complete,  unified,  and  permanent  self.^ 
To  such  a  state  of  mind  as  is  in  the  act  of  seeking 
these  values,  Coe  has  applied  the  term  "religious." 
And  the  mental  process  plus  the  accompanying 
expressions,  practices  and  symbolism  would  be 
called  Religion. 

1.  It  would  be  interesting  at  this  point  to  consider  the  extent  to  which 
social  valuations  follow  the  progress  of  ideas,  especially  those  of  science. 
This  is  suggested  in  Chap.  VIII  of  Henke's  book,  on  the  "Survival  of 
Ritualism."  And  it  should  be  noticed  that  these  new  ideas  are  the  prod- 
ucts of  individual  thinking,  which  suggests  a  still  further  possibility  for 
the  individual  control  of  ritual. 

2.  Cf.  Le  Bon,  The  Crowd,  Book  I,  Chap.  I;  Book  III,  Chap.  V.  Mac- 
Dougall,  Social  Psychology,  pp.  86,  87,  96  ff.  248  ff.,  298  ff..  and  Chap. 
VII  and  VIII.     Also  Davenport,  op.  cit..  Chap.  VIII. 

3.  Article,  "Religious  Value,"  cited  above. 


22  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

In  Worship,  as  an  expression  of  the  rehgious  state 
of  mind,  the  highest  values  are  symboHzed  and 
sought.  They  are  here  brought  clearly  to  conscious- 
ness and  renewed  in  vitality.  Worship  thus  becomes 
a  means  of  social  control,  for  it  serves  to  cultivate 
and  revitalize  in  the  individual  the  appreciation  of 
objects  which  in  its  best  moments  society  has  come 
to  regard  as  of  the  highest  value. 

But  worship  may  be  a  factor  in  social  progress 
as  well  as  social  control.  A  natural  consequence  of 
the  nature  of  the  religious  consciousness  and  its 
means  of  renewal  is  that  it  becomes  or  may  become 
through  its  forms  of  expression,  a  means  of  inspira- 
tion for  practical  effort.  And  this  in  two  ways. 
In  the  first  place,  as  new  items  of  experience  are 
lifted  into  consciousness  out  of  the  milieu  of  custom; 
as  new  habits  of  life  develop;  as  new  attitudes  to 
life  and  new  ideas  emerge;  these  come  to  be  con- 
sidered from  the  point  of  view  of  the  supreme  value, 
personality.  If  thought  worth  while,  they  are 
taken  over  into  the  religious  consciousness.  A 
generation  ago  the  preacher  with  the  "social  mes- 
sage" was  frowned  upon  by  the  respectable  church- 
goers. To-day  the  churches  are  coming  to  stand 
squarely  by  a  social  gospel.  The  new  thinking  on 
social  subjects  has  found  its  way  into  hymns  and 
creeds.  The  social  message  has  gradually  been 
linking  itself  up  with  all  the  other  themes  of  religion, 
and  has  been  gathering  to  itself  all  the  moral  sup- 
port that  is  gained  for  any  cause  to  which  public 


The  Social  Function  of  Worship  23 

allegiance  is  pledged  in  the  serious  moments  of 
worship. 

Thus  a  tremendous  impetus  may  be  given  to  a 
movement  of  thought.  It  becomes  linked  up  with 
other  worthy  ends  of  life.  Its  fortune  is  cast  among 
the  more  sacred  and  precious  desires  which  have 
already  been  symbolized  in  the  ritual.  All  the 
most  powerful  motives  of  human  nature  may  thus 
be  enlisted  to  reinforce  it. 

In  the  second  place,  the  experience  of  worship 
itself,  with  its  elevation  of  idea  and  feeling,  its 
contemplation  of  the  best  in  life,  is  a  state  of  mind 
which  is  pregnant  with  fresh  effort  in  new  directions. 
New  levels  of  moral  control  are  attained.  New 
ideas  are  grasped  and  new  causes  espoused.  The 
will  of  the  individual,  perhaps  weak  and  ineffective 
by  itself,  is  reinforced  by  the  purposes  of  others. 
The  broken  resolve  is  once  more  taken  up  into  its 
place  in  an  organized  life-purpose,  which  worship 
recreates. 

The  great  objects  of  life  demand,  further,  contin- 
ually new  means  for  their  accomplishment.  And 
so  far  as  existing  forms  of  experience,  whether  in 
science  or  politics,  or  anything  else,  furnish  possi- 
ble means  for  forwarding  the  larger  interests  of  life, 
these  forms  are  given  new  impetus  for  development 
and  application.  A  pleasing  illustration  of  this  is 
seen  in  music,  which  has  reached  its  noblest  achieve- 
ments in  its  endeavor  to  minister  to  religious  needs. 
Indeed,  at  its  earliest  stage,  music  was  inseparable 
from  the  cultus.     It  either  grew  out  of  other  forms 


24  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

of  ritual  or  was  soon  adopted  by  the  devotee  and 
used  to  advance  the  ends  of  rehgion.  Or  compare 
with  this  the  interest  in  therapeutics.  The  Shaman 
was  at  first  both  physician  and  rehgious  leader. 
The  shrine  of  Aesculapius  was  a  hospital.  The 
attraction  of  Lourdes  was  and  still  is  its  claim  to 
cure  disease.  "Physician  of  the  soul"  and  like 
phrases,  Christian  Science  and  other  forms  of  mental 
healing,  all  bear  witness  to  the  intimate  association 
between  religion  and  medicine.  And  most  inter- 
esting of  all  is  the  modern  campaign  for  health, 
especially  in  relation  to  the  eradication  of  tuber- 
culosis, which  is  being  undertaken  largely  at  the 
instigation  of  the  churches.^ 

In  suggesting  some  of  the  ways  in  which  changes 
have  been  brought  about  in  the  forms  of  worship 
and  in  the  values  sought  we  have  so  far  treated 
worship  as  a  means.  There  is  one  other  aspect, 
however,  which  must  not  be  overlooked.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  on  page  11  it  was  noted  that 
ritualism  is  social  in  a  double  sense.  Not  only  are 
rites  socially  prescribed,  but  they  are  directed  or 
addressed  toward  other  minds,  that  is,  to  social 
beings  like  ourselves.  In  some  cases  at  least,  as 
perhaps  in  the  early  Semitic  religious  feasts,  the 
occasion  of  thus  conferring  with  the  social  object  of 
the  rites  may  have  been  simply  that  of  fellowship.^ 

1.  Graham  Taylor,  in  an  article  in  The  Siirvey  for  Nov.  23,  1912.  says 
that  among  "  1012  social  workers  recently  tabulated,  92%  of  those  connected 
with  associated  charities,  88%  of  those  connected  with  social  settlements 
and  71%  of  all  others  are  church  members." 

2.  Smith,  W.  R.,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  and  comments  of  Ames,  op.  cit., 
pp.  122  and  131. 


The  Social  Function  of  Worship  25 

But  with  changes  in  economic  conditions  such  as 
might  have  been  brought  about  by  scarcity  of  food 
or  of  rain  or  by  pestilence,  this  simple  fellowship 
became  transformed  into  an  attempt  to  conciliate  or 
influence  the  gods  in  order  to  restore  prosperity. 
It  is  only  as  the  gods  have  gradually  become  social- 
ized that  this  value  of  ritualism  as  a  communion 
with  spiritual  beings  is»realized  in  full.  Here  wor- 
ship is  sought  not  for  practical  control  over  the 
necessities  of  life,  but  for  its  own  sake  as  a  value 
complete  in  itself,  as  an  end  and  not  a  means. 

From  valuing  things — food,  successful  competition, 
sex  relations,  and  so  on — men  progress  to  the  point 
where  these  ends  of  life  become  only  means  to  more 
sublimated  forms  of  satisfaction.  Human  fellow- 
ship, at  first  perhaps  a  means  of  defense  or  of  gaining 
a  food  supply,  is  found  to  be  enjoyable  in  itself. 
Thus  ends  and  means  change  places.  So  also  com- 
munion with  gods,  once  carried  on  as  a  means  to 
mundane  control,  becomes  an  end  in  itself,  a  thing 
altogether  desirable  for  its  own  sake.  This  trans- 
mutation of  value  would  occur  even  on  Leuba's 
assumption  that  the  gods  are  only  conceptual  enti- 
ties. The  consequences  of  such  a  conception  of  the 
function  of  worship  seem  to  move  in  two  directions, 
according  to  the  character  of  the  god-idea.  On  the 
one  hand,  where  the  conception  of  deity  continues 
monarchical,  the  ritual  tends  to  refinement  and 
complexity  and  high  symbolism,  as  illustrated  in 
the  tiiree  branches  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The 
forms  become  a  matter  of  pride  and  are  preserved 


26  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

intact  for  their  esthetic  value.  Here  the  original 
value  tends  to  be  merged  in  the  form  and  to  disap- 
pear. On  the  other  hand,  where  the  vital  element 
in  the  thought  of  God  is  the  idea  of  companionship, 
ritual  becomes  simplified,  tending  toward  the  expe- 
rience of  worship  as  it  is  found  among  the  Quakers.^ 
Here  the  original  form  tends  to  be  merged  in  the 
value  and  to  disappear,  leaving  nothing  but  the 
experience  of  fellowship  with  God. 

Religion  is  not  concerned  with  this  or  that  or  any 
nameable  value,  but  with  all  values;  for  religion  is  a 
movement  of  the  mind  within  the  whole  field  of  val- 
ues, which,  as  Coe  puts  it,  revalues  and  unifies  them 
all  in  the  light  of  a  progressing  personality.  At 
first  thought  it  might  be  said  that  this  merely  makes 
personality  the  value  which  religion  specifically 
seeks.  But  it  is  perhaps  fair  to  say  that  personality 
is  not  simply  a  value,  but  is  that  in  which  all  values 
subsist.  It  is  not  an  end  but  a  process,  which  is 
inclusive  of  all  values;  and  religion  is  that  aspect  of 
the  onward  movement  of  personality  which  is  seek- 
ing the  highest  "permanent,  adequate  and  unified" 
values.  It  is  no  great  step  in  the  logic  of  the  heart 
to  say  that  personality,  being  itself  social,  seeks  as 

1.  Cf.  the  article  "Friends"  by  Isaac  Sharpless  in  the  New  Schaff- 
Herzog  Encyclopedia  of  Religious  Knowledge.  Speaking  of  the  worship 
of  the  Quakers,  he  says,  "...  Highest  of  these  (religious  acts)  is 
the  direct  communion  of  the  soul  with  its  Maker  and  its  Lord,  in  rapt  de- 
votion, in  thanksgiving  and  prayer.  But  there  are  ser\dces,  in  these  hours 
of  silence,  adapted  to  every  degree  of  reUgious  experience  and  every  serious 
mood  of  mind.  .  .  'Sometimes  a  light  surprises'  the  humble  worshiper; 
his  thoughts  are  led  on  and  upward  by  a  higher  Power;  new  meanings  of 
texts  flash  upon  his  mind,  a  new  illumination  is  given  to  the  path  of  duty, 
and  in  answer  to  the  prayer  breathed  forth  by  his  inmost  soul  he  feela 
conscious  of  a  closer  union  with  God,  and  strengthened  for  his  future  war- 
fare with  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil." 


The  Social  Function  of  Worship  27 

its  highest  end  the  fellowship  of  other  personalities. 
And  worship  is  one  way  of  finding  this  fellowship 
in  its  most  satisfactory  form;  for  it  includes  the 
fellowship  of  both  God  and  men. 

We  are  thus  led  to  the  conclusion  that  worship  as 
a  phase  of  religious  experience  has  served  a  manifold 
function.  As  is  clearly  brought  out  by  Coe,  King, 
Henke,  Ames,  and  others,  it  originates  and  develops 
as  a  means  of  ritualistic  control  over  the  necessities 
of  life,  a  means  of  attaining  what  are  conceived  to 
be  the  highest  values.  As  the  sense  of  self  expands 
and  deepens,  these  values  are  thought  of  in  terms  of 
personality  and  are  consciously  sought  through  the 
mediation  of  religious  ceremony.  Here  ritual  be- 
comes a  means  of  social  control,  as  exampled  in  the 
savage  and  civilized  (?)  rites  of  initiation.  Further, 
religion,  as  it  finds  expression  in  worship,  contributes 
a  moral  and  intellectual  and  esthetic  stimulus  and 
becomes  thereby  a  means  of  social  progress.  Finally, 
by  bringing  together  minds  of  like  ideals  and  com- 
mon interests,  in  the  presence  of  a  socialized  God, 
worship  provides  a  larger  social  fellowship,  including 
fellowship  with  the  Divine  Being.  Worship  is  thus 
not  only  a  means  but  an  end  in  itself — a  means  by 
which  all  values  are  harmonized  and  conserved  and 
illuminated,  and  an  experience  within  which  the 
human  soul  may  find  its  deepest  satisfaction.^ 

1.  A  good  illustration  of  the  tendency  for  appreciated  values  to  be 
embodied  in  ritual  is  seen  in  the  adoption  of  a  service  of  worship  in  the  Sun- 
day meetings  of  the  Ethical  Culture  Society.  Their  moral  interests  have 
gradually  become  transformed  into  religious  interests,  and  the  forms  of 
religion  have  been  employed  to  give  expression  to  ethical  aspiration. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   NEGLECT  OF   WORSHIP   IN   THE 
SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

Worship,  then,  is  a  means  by  which  a  leader  may 
control  the  social  experience  of  a  group  so  as  to 
conserve  and  develop  social  values.  One  would 
naturally  expect,  therefore,  that  worship  would  be 
intimately  associated  with  other .  forms  of  social 
control  such  as  education.  It  will  be  remembered 
at  once  that  the  earliest  forms  of  formal  education 
were  not  distinguished  from  instruction  in  ritual. 
Ritual  was  the  only  means  of  practical  control. 
It  had  consequently  to  be  taught,  and  the  teaching 
was  sometimes  concentrated  into  a  few  days  or  weeks 
of  Initiation  Rites  at  the  period  of  adolescence.^ 
But  as  other  methods  of  dealing  with  nature  grew 
up,  education  drew  away  from  its  religious  limita- 
tions. Yet  so  far  as  it  was  intellectual  in  character, 
it  was  still  dominated  by  religious  interests.  It  is 
only  in  recent  years  that  the  two  forms  of  social 
activity,  religion  and  education,  have  become,  any- 
where, almost  wholly  separated;  and  this  separation 
has  perhaps  been  to  the  detriment  of  both  church 
and  school.  Our  present  effort  to  bridge  this  gulf 
is  called  Religious  Education.  In  the  splendid 
endeavor  of  the  present  age  to  provide  each  younger 

1.  Cf.  Webster,  Primitive  Secret  Societies,  Chaps.  Ill  and  IV. 
28 


The  Neglect  of  Worship  29 

generation  with  the  ideals  of  Hfe  and  the  means  of 
reahzing  them,  worship,  as  a  means  of  growth  in 
the  appreciation  and  control  of  the  highest  values, 
has  been  neglected.  And  religious  education,  in  its 
attempt  to  restore  the  religious  attitudes  to  their 
proper  place  in  the  development  of  the  child,  has 
been  almost  as  remiss  in  the  use  of,  or  abuse  of,  the 
experience  of  worship.  Surely,  as  an  experience  of 
the  highest  social  fellowship,  it  should  take  a  promi- 
nent place  in  any  large  scheme  of  education,  both 
as  means  and  as  end.  How  much  more  is  it  an 
essential  factor  in  that  branch  of  educational  prac- 
tice which  deals  especially  with  a  child's  spiritual 
relations,  with  the  cultivation  of  religious  attitudes, 
with  the  achievement  of  Christian  manhood  and 
womanhood !  And  should  not  the  Sunday  school,  as 
the  primary  public  agent  in  the  rehgious  aspects  of 
education,  count  it  among  its  most  sacred  duties  to 
train  its  children  in  and  through  the  experience  of 
worship.^^ 

That  the  service  of  worship  in  the  Sunday  school 
has  not  been  given  any  significant  place  in  religious 
education,  is  clearly  seen  by  an  examination  of  the 
discussions  of  the  subject  as  they  appear  in  recent 
books  on  Sunday-school  organization  and  manage- 
ment. A  brief  review  of  some  of  the  best  of  these 
discussions  is  here  given  in  order  that  we  may  have 
before  us  the  present  state  of  theory  with  regard  to 
Sunday-school  worship. 

One  of  the  first  among  the  more  recent  books  on  the  Sunday 
school  is   that  by  Amos  R.  Wells,  "Sunday  School  Success," 


30  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

which  came  out  in  1897.  Typical  of  the  attitude  of  all  too  many 
Sunday  schools  toward  the  service  is  the  following  paragraph, 
which  begins  the  chapter  on  The  Superintendent's  Chance.  "At 
the  opening  of  the  school  the  superintendent  hasn't  half  a  chance; 
at  the  close  he  has  a  large  chance — as  large,  in  fact  as  he  is.  At 
the  opening  the  superintendent  is  merely  (!)  a  master  of  cere- 
monies to  usher  in  the  work  as  buoyantly  as  possible;  at  the  close 
he  is  a  teacher,  the  high  priest  of  all  the  teachers."  And  so  his 
function  in  the  service  of  worship  is  nil;  for  the  purpose  of  the  as- 
sembly is  to  get  one  last  whack  at  the  pupils  before  they  go  home ! 
Other  chapters  include  suggestions  equally  inapplicable  to  the 
spirit  of  worship,  though  recognizing  certain  instructional  ends. 
For  example,  the  prayer  at  the  close  of  the  session  "rivets  the 
lesson  on  the  week  to  come." 

A  very  suggestive  chapter  on  The  Function  of  a  Sunday  School 
Ritual  appears  in  Burton  and  Mathew's  "Principles  and  Ideals 
for  the  Sunday  School,"  published  in  1903.  There  the  use  of 
worship  as  a  means  to  a  definite  end  is  clearly  brought  out,  as 
these  sentences  will  show:  "The  religious  feelings  need  cultivation 
and  education  as  truly  as  the  mind  requires  religious  instruction." 
"While  the  teaching  hour  makes  its  chief  appeal  to  the  mind,  the 
ritual  service  has  relation  chiefly  to  the  cultivation  of  the  emo- 
tions." "What,  then,  are  the  feelings  which  the  Sunday  school 
ritual  should  seek  to  cultivate?  We  answer:  reverence,  adoration, 
love,  penitence,  aspiration,  hope.  Central  in  the  whole  service 
must  be  the  aim  to  bring  before  the  mind  the  thought — a  true 
thought — of  God  in  the  perfection  of  his  holiness,  in  the  infinitude 
of  his  love  and  mercy."  And  then  follows  an  outline  of  the  means 
to  this  end,  chief  among  which  is  placed  reading  from  scripture; 
with  help  from  hymns  and  prayers.  The  service  should  be  dig- 
nified, cheerful,  sincere  and  flexible,  adapted  to  the  various  needs 
of  different  ages  and  social  situations,  and  so  organized  that  all 
may  share  in  it.  While  this  treatment  is  hardly  adequate,  con- 
sidering the  importance  ascribed  to  the  service  in  the  beginning 
of  the  chapter,  (only  eight  and  a  half  pages  out  of  a  book  of  207 
pages)  still,  some  of  the  fundamental  principles  are  at  least 
touched  upon. 


The  Neglect  of  Worship  31 

In  1905  Marion  Lawrance  published  a  book,  "  How  to  Conduct 
a  Sunday  School,"  the  product  of  many  years  of  experience  with 
all  the  problems  arising  in  the  administration  of  a  large  school 
in  Toledo,  Ohio.  In  Chapter  Four,  The  Sunday  School  in  Ses- 
sion, he  takes  up  the  subject  of  the  service  of  worship.  The  chap- 
ter is  full  of  practical  suggestions  as  to  how  to  run  (iff  a  service 
without  delay  or  friction.  All  the  machinery  is  accurately  de- 
scribed, and  a  sample  program  is  given.  But  there  is  no  hint  as  to 
what  this  complicated  procedure  is  all  about  or  what  it  is  intended 
to  accomplish.  That  his  method  will  arouse  school-spirit  is  not 
to  be  denied,  but  a  service  of  worship,  to  be  truly  successful,  must 
do  more  than  that. 

Henry  F.  Cope,  General  Secretary  of  the  Religious  Education 
Association,  published  in  1907  "The  Modern  Sunday  School  in 
Principle  and  Practice."  In  the  chapter  on  Program  the  question 
of  the  service  is  discussed.  It  is  most  interesting  to  note  that  in 
his  school  there  is  to  be  no  real  individual  leadership  of  worship,  as 
the  following  paragraph  shows:  "The  general  form  will  be  adopted 
by  the  officers  of  the  school;  the  items  for  each  session  will  be 
selected  by  the  officers  who  will  have  charge  of  the  school  or  a 
division  of  the  school.  The  superintendent,  therefore,  will  have 
his  hymns,  references  and  all  other  details  chosen  and  set  down 
before  he  comes  into  the  school  room."  Thus  is  responsibility 
for  the  service  divided  up  among  a  number  of  persons.  But  the 
necessity  of  cultivating  f eeUngs  of  worship  and  aspiration  is  recog- 
nized in  the  caution  to  make  the  service  reverent.  Other  character- 
istics are:  varied,  unitary,  bright,  suited  to  each  special  division, 
and  so  on.  Emphasis  is  placed  on  the  need  of  naturalness, 
idealization  and  full  expression.  The  advisability  of  having  the 
elementary  and  secondary  grades  meet  in  the  church  for  worship 
is  suggested,  but  the  possibilities  of  this  plan  in  the  way  of  pro- 
moting the  spirit  of  worship  are  not  made  as  much  of  as  they 
should  be. 

In  1912  Cope  published  another  book  entitled  "EflBciency  in 
the  Sunday  School."  In  this  later  book  he  advances  somewhat 
from  his  earlier  position.  The  value  of  worship  is  described  as 
enhancing  the  school-spirit,  especially  in  the  singing  of  the  hymns. 


32  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

The  prevailing  type  of  Sunday-school  song  is  justly  censured  for 
its  lack  of  both  music  and  thought.  The  educational  possibilities 
of  the  program  are  touched  on  and  they  are  now  made  to  depend 
on  the  careful  planning  of  the  service  by  the  superintendent. 

In  1909  G.  W.  Mead  published  his  "  Modern  Methods  in  Sunday 
School  Work."  His  explicit  interest  is  the  revival  of  the  teaching 
function  of  the  church,  yet  he  clearly  states  the  fundamental  need 
of  religious  exercises  for  the  primary  and  other  grades  "for  the 
cultivation  of  the  spirit  of  worship  and  for  the  inculcation  of  Bible 
teaching;  the  one  being  accomplished  through  the  education  of 
the  emotions,  the  latter  through  the  instruction  of  the  mind." 
But  beyond  stating  the  general  purpose  of  the  service,  nothing 
definite  is  given  concerning  its  specific  functions  or  its  instructional 
ends. 

G.  A.  Coe,  in  "Education  in  ReHgion  and  Morals,"  1909,  writes 
as  follows:  "Finally,  as  the  purpose  of  the  school  is  that  the  child 
shall  grow  in  spiritual  life,  all  the  technical  aspects  of  teaching 
should  be  warmed  and  vitalized  by  the  teacher's  own  sense  of 
God's  presence.  So  also,  the  act  of  acquisition  on  the  part  of  the 
pupil  should  be  associated  with  worship  and  with  active  service 
of  one's  fellows.  Is  it  not  time,  for  instance,  to  cease  holding 
opening  and  closing  '  exercises'  and  to  substitute  therefor  opening 
and  closing  worship  in  name  and  in  fact?"  His  further  comments 
are  devoted  to  the  relation  of  the  children  to  the  church  service. 

In  the  many  other  books  on  the  Sunday  school 
which  have  appeared  the  matter  is  either  inten- 
tionally avoided  or  handled  inadequately.^ 

The  following  brief  summaries  or  quotations  of 
magazine  articles  and  committee  reports  show  that 
while  now  and  then  some  have  got  hold  of  a  single 

1.  Cf.  the  following:  Trumbull,  H.  C,  Yale  Lectures  on  the  Sunday 
School,  1888;  Vincent,  J,  H.,  The  Modern  Sunday  School,  1900  (revised); 
Sheldon,  W.  L.,  An  Ethical  Sunday  School,  1900;  Haslett,  S.  B.  The  Peda- 
gogical Bible  School,  1903;  Smith,  W.  W.,  Religious  Education,  1909; 
Meyer,  H.  H.,  The  Graded  Sunday  School  in  Principle  and  Practice,  1910; 
Harker,  R.  C,  The  Work  of  the  Sunday  School,  Frost,  J.  M.,  The  School  of 
the  Church  and  Smith,  W.  W.,  The  Sunday  School  of  Today,  of  1911. 


The  Neglect  of  Worship  SS 

vital  point  in  the  theory  of  Sunday-school  worship, 
no  one  seems  to  have  grasped  the  whole  significance 
of  the  exercise.  The  most  distinctive  contribution 
of  each  writer  is  italicised. 

In  Religious  Education,  Vol.  I,  p.  169,  a  symposium  of  four 
short  articles  on  Giving  Educational  Value  to  the  Devotional 
Exercises  of  the  Sunday  School  is  printed. 

1.  Lester  Bradner.  The  threefold  object  of  the  devotional  ex- 
ercises is  given  as  "(1)  The  formal  opening  of  the  school.  (2) 
An  act  of  worship  for  the  school.  (3)  An  opportunity  to  give  needed 
notices  and  directions  to  the  school.  In  certain  cases,  time 
permitting,  a  fourth  object  may  be  added,  that  is,  to  give  some 
short  instruction . "  • 

2.  Lester  B.  Jones.  "The  purpose  of  worship  in  church  or  in 
Sunday  school,  by  child  or  by  man,  is  the  estabUshment  of  a  direct 
personal  contact  between  the  individual  and  his  God,  and  the 
resultant  adjustment  of  the  individual's  life  to  God's  ideal  of  that 
life." 

3.  Mrs.  B.  S.  Winchester.  The  purpose  of  the  opening  ser- 
vice is  the  cultivation  of  the  attitude  of  reverence  and  worship. 
Suitable  themes  should  be  employed  to  guide  the  selection  of  hymns, 
prayers  and  responses,  such  for  example  as  The  Happy  Life,  God 
is  Love.  It  should  be  real  worship  and  the  practice  of  hymns 
should  be  avoided  when  possible.  "To  recapitulate:  Helpful 
featvu-es  in  making  the  opening  program  of  value  in  the  work  of 
Religious  Education  are  these:  Continuity  in  time,  coherence  in 
thought,  use  of  Biblical  passages  and  hymns  which  are  within 
the  range  of  experience,  repetition  to  the  point  of  familiarity,  but 
variety  in  theme  and  treatment,  and  best  of  all  the  co-operation 
of  all,  officers,  teachers,  pupils,  in  the  act  and  attitude  of  worship." 

4.  Tyler  E.  Gale.  The  service  is  for  education  in  both  the  forms 
and  spirit  of  worship,  yet  must  the  service  be  the  true  expression  of 
the  child's  worship. 

In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Third  Convention  of  the  Religious 
Education  Association  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Worship 


34  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

in  the  Sunday  School  suggests  many  practical  points  on  method. 
Nothing  definite  is  said  concerning  the  purpose  of  worship  in  the 
Sunday  school.  The  "ideal"  order  seems  to  be  the  following: 
Opening  sentences.  Hymn,  Bible  Reading,  Prayer,  Hymn.  It  is 
thought  that  the  service  should  be  the  closing  and  culminating 
feature  of  the  school  session  rather  than  a  means  of  introducing 
the  lesson  hour. 

Of  considerable  significance  is  the  address  of  E.  I.  Rexford 
deUvered  at  the  Seventy-Fourth  Convention  of  the  International 
Sunday  School  Association,  Toronto,  1905. 

Respect  or  reverence,  as  the  feeling  which  accompanies  the 
recognition  of  superiority  or  worth  in  others,  is  to  be  developed 
gradually  through  the  imitation  of  others  who  are  sincerely  ob- 
servant of  the  forms  of  worship,  and  by  a  hearty  personal  parti- 
cipation in  these  forms  and  modes  of  expression.  The  child  learns 
to  worship  by  worshipping.  And,  further,  which  is  also  important, 
"actual  participation  in  the  devotional  exercises  of  the  school  tends 
to  develop  an  attitude  of  mind  and  heart  favorable  to  religious  im- 
pressions." "The  feeling  of  gratitude  to  God  will  be  developed 
and  strengthened  bj  expressing  that  feeling  in  prayer  and  praise." 
Thus  Rexford  carries  the  subject  further  than  anyone  so  far 
quoted. 

The  most  significant  account  of  Sunday-school  worship  is  that 
of  R.  M.  Hodge,  in  The  Biblical  World,  Jan.  1906,  p.  42.  He 
discusses  the  Organization  of  Worship,  the  ideas  to  be  expressed 
and  the  material  to  be  employed.  The  need  of  actually  worship- 
ping in  order  to  learn  to  worship  is  put  very  strongly  as  well  as 
the  need  of  explaining  the  forms  used.  But  he  insists  that  the 
preparation  for  worship  shall  be  undertaken  separately  from  the 
worship  itself.  "Drilling  in  music  or  explaining  subject  matter 
distracts  attention  from  adoration  to  the  mere  mechanics  of 
worship."  Warning  is  given  against  the  danger  of  paganizing 
worship  by  making  it  the  awesome  adoration  of  a  potentate. 
The  need  of  expert  musical  leadership  is  emphasized.  The  ideas 
used  in  the  worship  should  always  be  true  for  the  children  and 
involve  no  mental  reservations.  Further,  the  ideas  should  be 
important.     The  worship  should  be  addressed  to  God,  but  it 


The  Neglect  of  Worship  35 

should  bring  out  both  the  individual  and  the  social  aspects  of 
Christianity.  The  ideas  should  be  adapted  to  the  various  ages 
represented.  The  Primary,  Junior  and  Senior  departments  might 
well  meet  separately  for  this  purpose.  Finally,  "every  literary 
and  musical  composition  employed  in  Sunday-school  worship 
should  be  a  masterpiece." 

The  lack  of  material  on  our  subject  is  surprising, 
especially  where  one  would  most  expect  to  find  an 
abundance,  namely  in  the  literature  of  religious 
education.  Outside  of  articles  on  music  in  the 
Sunday  school,  only  one  article  is  given  over  wholly 
to  the  subject  in  the  magazine  of  the  Religious 
Education  Association.  Only  one  paper  appears 
in  the  reports  of  its  conventions;  no  book  is  an- 
nounced by  it  as  dealing  exclusively  with  the  subject; 
and  only  three  or  four  books  seem  to  regard  it  as  of 
suflacient  importance  to  mention  at  all. 

Before  attempting  to  make  our  own  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  purposes  and  forms  of  worship,  it  is 
perhaps  advisable  to  present  a  few  illustrations  of 
how  the  lack  of  an  adequate  theory  of  worship  has 
affected  current  forms  of  services  for  the  Sunday 
school.  The  following  are  chosen  at  random  from 
Sunday-school  texts  which  have  had  recent  cur- 
rency. An  examination  of  these  will  show  how  for 
the  most  part  neither  the  subject  matter  nor  the 
form  is  suited  to  the  cultivation  of  a  spirit  of  worship, 
nor  adapted  to  the  intelligence  and  interests  of  the 
children. 


36  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

THE  ILLUSTRATED  BEREAN    LESSON    QUARTERLY 

Vol.  XIII,  No.  2 

1.  Silence 

2.  Responsive  sentences: 

Superintendent.  Blessed  are  the  undefiled  in  the  way, 
who  walk  in  the  law  of  the  Lord 

School.  Blessed  are  they  that  keep  his  testimonies,  and 
that  seek  him  with  the  whole  heart 

Supt.     They  also  do  no  iniquity,  they  walk  in  his  ways 

ScHL.  Thou  shalt  command  us  to  keep  thy  precepts  dili- 
gently 

Supt.     O  that  my  ways  were  directed  to  keep  thy  statutes! 

ScHL.  Then  shall  I  not  be  ashamed,  when  I  have  respect 
unto  all  thy  commandments 

All.     I  will  keep  thy  statutes 

3.  Singing 

4.  The  Ten  Commandments  or  the  Apostles'  Creed 

5.  Prayer,  followed  by  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  concert 

6.  Singing 

junior  department  program 

Order  of  Service  Number  Twelve 

To  go  with  the  Junior  Text-Book  of  the  International  (Graded) 

Series 

1.  Chord  on  piano  to  signalize  the  beginning  of  the  session 

Class  study  of  fifteen  minutes  on  the  Correlated  Lesson 

2.  Song  of  worship  without  words 

3.  Worship 

1)  Recitation  in  concert  of  the  Junior  motto: 

Be  ye  doers  of  the  word  and  not  hearers  only 

2)  Invocation 

Jesus,  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  thy  words  are  full  of  truth 
and  grace,  for  thou  didst  speak  as  never  man  spake. 
Wilt  thou  speak  to  us  through  thy  word  today,  and 
help  us  to  be  doers  of  that  word  today  and  always. 
Amen. 


The  Neglect  of  Worship  37 

3)  Responsive  Service,  The  Beatitudes 

4)  Hymn,  Jesus,  Saviour,  Pilot  Me 

5)  Prayer  Service 

Subject  for  silent  prayer  suggested  by  superintendent, 
teachers  or  pupils 
Silent  prayer 

Sentence   prayer   by  the   superintendent,    repeated    by 
teachers  and  pupils 

4.  Business.     Offering   envelopes,    attendance   cards,   etc.,    pre- 

pared 

5.  Fellowship  Exercises 

6.  Bible  Drill,  conducted  by  the  superintendent 

7.  Offering  Service.     Text  and  Prayer 

8.  Hymn 

PILGRIM    SERIES 

International  Uniform  Lessons 
Vol.  XXVII,  No.  3 
Suggested  Program 

A.  OPENING   WORSHIP 

The  Days  of  Toil  and  Strain 
I.  The  Call  to  Worship 
(The  instrument  wall  play  softly  the  strains  of  the  first  hymn, 
at  the  sound  of  which  all  will  be  silent) 

Superintendent.  The  hour  cometh  and  now  is  when  true  wor- 
shippers shall  worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth :  for  the 
Father  seeketh  such  to  worship  him.     God  is  a  spirit,  and  they 
that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth 
School.  Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name 
saith  the  Lord  Jesus,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them 
(At  the  chord  the  school  will  rise  and  sing) 
"Laudes  Domini"   (When  morning  gilds  the  skies) 

II .  Meditation  and  Prayer 

Superintendent.  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  not  eating  and  drink- 
ing, but  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit 

School.  See  that  none  render  evil  for  evil;  but  always  follow 
after  that  which  is  good,  one  toward  another  and  toward   all 


38  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

SuPT.  Rejoice  always;  pray  without  ceasing;  in  everything  give 

thanks 
ScHL.  For  this  is  the  will  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus 
SuPT.  If  any  of  you  lacketh  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God,  who 

giveth  to  all  liberally  and  upbraideth  not;  and  it  shall  be  given 

him 
ScHL.  But  let  him  walk  in  faith,  nothing  doubting 
Prayer  (Closing  with  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  unison) 

III.  Adoration 

Superintendent.  God,  who  commanded  the  light  to  shine  out 
of  darkness  hath  shined  in  our  hearts. 

School.  To  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ 

SuPT.  But  we  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that  the 
exceeding  greatness  of  the  power  may  be  of  God  and  not  of 
ourselves 

ScHL.  Not  looking  each  of  you  to  his  own  things,  but  each  of 
you  to  the  things  of  others 

SuPT.  Have  this  mind  in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus 

ScHL.  Who,  being  in  the  form  of  God,  counted  it  not  a  prize  to  be 
on  an  equality  with  God 

SuPT.  But  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon  him- 
self the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  men; 

ScHL.  And  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself, 
and  became  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross 

All.  Wherefore  God  also  hath  highly  exalted  him,  and  given  him 
a  name  above  every  name:  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every 
knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  the  Heaven,  and  things  on  earth, 
and  things  under  the  earth;  and  that  every  tongue  should  con- 
fess that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father 
Hymn,  "Mary ton" 
(O  Master,  let  me  walk  with  Thee.) 

B.    INSTRUCTION 

1.  Review,  Catechism,  or  other  concert  work — at  the  option  of 

the  superintendent.     (Not  to  exceed  five  minutes) 
^.  The  Lesson  Read.     (If  desired,  responsively  or  in  unison) 


The  Neglect  of  Worship  39 

3.  The  Lesson  Taught 

4.  Review  of  present  or  previous  lesson.     (Pastor  or  Superin- 

tendent) 

C.   BUSINESS 

The  offering;  reports,  announcements;  distribution  of  papers, 
etc. 

D.    CLOSING  WORSHIP 

Hymn,  "Benediction"  (Saviour,  again  to  thy  dear  name  we  raise) 
Supt.  and  Schl.  in  unison,  "The  Lord  bless  us  and  keep  us,  etc." 

Certainly  in  such  mosaics  of  scriptural  echoes 
any  plan  or  purpose  of  instruction  in  or  through 
worship  does  not  stand  out  conspicuously,  although 
the  headings,  Call  to  Worship,  Meditation  and 
Prayer,  Adoration,  Instruction,  might  lead  one  to 
expect  something  of  the  sort.  It  is  hard  to  see  how 
a  program  like  this  or  like  the  one  on  page  36  is  to 
inspire  a  ten-year-old  with  a  spirit  of  reverence,  or 
guide  him  in  the  development  of  religious  feeling. 

Not  very  different  in  character  is  the  following 
program  from  the  Bible  Study  Union  Lessons: 

BIBLE  STUDY  UNION  LESSONS 

Progressive  Quarterly 
Vol.  XVIII,  No.  1. 
Opening  Service — First  Quarter 
The  opening  service  is  made  brief  in  order  to  give  as  much  time 
as  possible  to  the  study  of  the  lesson,  which  is  the  principal  work 
of  the  Sunday  school 

1.  Service  of  Song 

2.  Responsive  Reading  and  Hymn  (School  Standing) 
Superintendent.  How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the 

feet  of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings,  that  publisheth  peace 
School.  That  bringeth  good  tidings  of  good,  that  publisheth 
salvation,  that  saith  unto  Zion,  Thy  God  reigneth! 


40  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

SuPT.  Break  forth  into  joy,  sing  together,  ye  waste  places  of 

Jerusalem;  for  the  Lord  hath  comforted  his  people,  he  hath 

redeemed  Jerusalem 
ScHL.  The  Lord  hath  made  bare  his  holy  arm  in  the  eyes  of  all 

the  nations;  and  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  have  seen  the 

salvation  of  our  God 
SuPT.  And  there  were  shepherds  in  the  same  country,  abiding 

in  the  fields,  and  keeping  watch  by  night  over  their  flocks 
ScHL.  And  an  angel  of  the  Lord  stood  by  them,  and  the  glory 

of  the  Lord  shone  round  about  them:  and  they  were  sore 

afraid 
SuPT.  And  the  angel  said  unto  them.  Be  not  afraid;  for  behold, 

I  bring  you  good  tidings  of  great  joy  which  shall  be  to  all 

people 
ScHL.  For  there  is  born  to  you  this  day  in  the  city  of  David, 

a  Saviour,  who  is  Christ  the  Lord 
SuPT.  And  suddenly  there  was  with  the  angel  a  multitude  of 

the  Heavenly  host  praising  God  and  saying. 
All.  Glory  to  God  in  the  Highest,  and  on  earth  peace  among 

men 

Hymn — Love  Divine,  all  Love  excelling 

3.  Prayer,  closing  with  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  unison 

4.  The  Scripture  reading  for  the  day.     (See  Lesson) 

5.  Announcements 

6.  The  Lesson 

But  it  is  more  hopeful  to  see  the  improvements  in 
the  service  offered  with  the  more  recent  Completely- 
Graded  Series: 

BIBLE  STUDY  UNION  LESSONS 

Completely  Graded  Series 

Vol.  XXI,  No.  3. 

Order  of  Service 

1.  Silence 

2.  Opening  Hymn:  "In  Heavenly  Love  Abiding" 

3.  Responsive  Reading:  Psalm  103: 1-5,  13-19 


The  Neglect  of  Worship  41 

4.  Prayer,  by  the  Superintendent 

5.  Announcements 

6.  Lesson  Study 

7.  Closing  Hymn:  "Work,  for  the  Night  is  Coming" 

Yet  even  this  service  is  manifestly  barren  of  vital 
purpose  other  than  to  start  things  going  in  the 
customary  fashion.^ 

1.  Of  considerably  higher  order  are  such  services  as  appear  in  Hymns  of 
Worship  and  of  Service  for  the  Sunday  School,  the  latest  Methodist  Sunday- 
School  Hymnal,  the  Universalist  Sunday-School  Hymnal  and  in  Scripture 
and  Song  in  Worship  by  Shepardson  and  Jones.  But  in  none  of  these  is 
the  function  of  the  service  of  worship  explained,  nor  are  the  orders  as  well 
adapted  as  might  be,  either  in  form  or  content,  to  the  spirit  of  worship. 

The  orders  of  service  here  given  are  typical  of  or  better  than  those  used 
in  the  great  mass  of  schools  over  the  country.  In  contrast  with  these  the 
reader  will  of  course  call  to  mind  exceptional  programs  of  power  and  dis- 
tinction which  he  has  found  in  use  somewhere.  Compare,  for  example, 
the  following  satisfactory  order  of  the  Center  Church  School,  New  Haven: 
Prelude  by  Orchestra 

Opening  Sentences,  by  the  Leader,  closing  with 
Leader:  O  Lord,  open  Thou  our  lips 
School:  And  our  mouth  shall  show  forth  Thy  praise 
Hymn  of  Praise  (Stand) 
The  Invocation  (Stand)  School  repeats  in  unison  a  common  prayer,  (From 

Hymns  of  Worship  and  of  Service) 
The  Lord's  Prayer 
Hymn   (Stand) 

Responsive  Reading  of  Scripture 
The  Ascription  of  Praise — The  "Gloria"  (Stand) 
Prayer  followed  by 

The  Response,  by  the  School,  from  the  same  book.  (No.  2,  p.  10) 
Intermission  for  the  preparation  of  attendance  and  offering  envelopes 
The  Reception  of  the  Offering 

Leader:  Take  ye  up  from  among  you  an  offering  unto  the  Lord, 
Whosoever  is  of  a  willing  heart,  let  him  bring  it. 

Leader:  For  Jesus  said 

School:    It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive. 
Freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give. 
Offertory  Chant   (Evening  Hymn) 

Bless  Thou  the  gifts  our  hands  have  brought. 

Bless  Thou  the  work  our  hearts  have  planned. 
Ours  is  the  faith,  tha  will,  the  thought, 

The  rest,  O  God,  is  in  Thy  hand.     Amen. 
Hymn  (Stand) 
The  Teaching  of  the  Lesson 

Orchestra 

Hymn  (Stand) 

The  Words  of  Aspiration,  in  unison,  Psalm  121 

Closing  Prayer 

Silent  Prayer 

The  Benediction,  in  unison 

The  Lord  bleas  us  and  keep  us,  etc. 


42  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

But  it  may  be  objected  that  a  bare  outline  of  the 
service  is  not  sufficient  evidence  against  its  value. 
A  few  observations  of  the  exercises  as  they  are  actu- 
ally carried  on  in  modern  schools  have  therefore  been 
collected.  The  following  questions  concerning  the 
services  were  put  to  students  in  Union  Theological 
Seminary  who  are  now  in  Professor  Coe's  course 
on  the  Sunday  school,  and  who  have  been  making 
careful  investigations  of  the  methods  of  different 
schools,  in  connection  with  this  course. 

School  of  what  Church? 

Denomination? 

Place? 

1.  Is  there  a  spirit  of  worship? 

2.  Is  instruction  or  training  in  worship  aimed  at? 

3.  If  not,  is  there  any  definite  purpose? 

Forty-one  students  reported  on  fifty-one  schools, 
no  two  observing  the  same  school.  These  schools 
were  distributed  among  eleven  denominations,  in 
thirty-one  places,  in  nine  states.  Nineteen  schools 
were  in  Greater  New  York.  The  character  of  the 
schools  ranged  from  some  of  the  larger  ones  in  New 
York  to  the  "way  back"  country  schools,  which 
latter  were  by  no  means  the  only  offenders  in  matters 
of  worship. 

To  question  one.  Is  there  a  spirit  of  worship?  19  answered  a 
certain  "No";  15  reported  it  as  not  clear;  4  considered  it  present 
but  limited;  13  were  sure  of  its  presence.  That  is,  in  only  13 
out  of  the  51  schools  visited  did  the  opening  service  seem  to  stir 
or  exhibit  a  spirit  of  worship. 

With  regard  to  question  two,  Is  instruction  or  training  in  wor- 


The  Neglect  of  Worship  43 

ship  aimed  at?  17  answered  negatively;  11  found  it  not  evident 
or  definite;  4  thought  it  was  partially  sought;  17  answered  "Yes." 
That  is,  in  only  17  out  of  the  51  schools  was  training  in  worship 
apparently  attempted. 

In  the  case  of  some  other  purpose  than  that  of  worship  or  train- 
ing in  worship,  15  found  none  present  and  22  detected  some  kind 
of  purpose.  Of  the  latter,  8  stipulated  purposes,  as,  for  example, 
to  preserve  custom,  to  gain  order,  to  make  announcements,  to 
get  started,  to  learn  the  books  of  the  Bible,  or  the  words  of  hymns 
and  psalms,  or  to  learn  Bible  stories. 

These  results  are  thoroughly  borne  out  by  the 
personal  observations  of  the  author  in  this  city  and 
elsewhere,  and  by  those  of  Professor  Coe  and  of  Miss 
Margaret  Slattery,  who  confirm  the  opinion  that 
most  of  our  school  services,  whether  conducted 
according  to  the  prescribed  orders  or  not,  are  with- 
out vital  purpose,  and  without  a  spirit  of  worship. 
For  the  most  part  they  are  not  orderly.  The  hymns 
are  often  undignified,  the  prayers  wandering,  the 
general  tone  one  of  indifference,  relieved  occasion- 
ally, because  of  the  personality  of  the  leader,  by  an 
accidental  success. 

This  brief  review  of  the  literature  about  worship 
in  the  Sunday  school,  the  examples  given  of  pro- 
grams now  in  use,  and  the  results  of  the  observa- 
tions of  the  actual  conduct  of  services,  have  perhaps 
made  clear  the  need  for  further  thought  and  experi- 
mentation in  this  field. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  PURPOSE  OF  WORSHIP  IN  THE 
SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

Within  the  experience  of  worship,  as  in  the  ordi- 
nary experience  of  fellowship  with  friends,  the  indi- 
vidual is  often  in  a  mood  which  makes  it  easy  for 
certain  mental  changes  to  occur.  Certain  ends 
may  be  sought  through  worship  which  depend  for 
their  attainment  upon  the  state  of  mind  natural 
to  this  experience.  These  ends  are  subjective 
rather  than  objective.  They  concern  the  control 
of  the  environment  only  indirectly,  through  the 
control  of  the  self.  They  include  the  illumination 
of  all  the  values  that  are  socially  sought,  whether 
esthetic,  intellectual  or  moral.  Ideas  and  ideals 
are  mediated  in  worship.^  Worship  must  serve  for 
instruction  as  well  as  training  in  order  to  be  effective. 
Our  ideas  of  God,  of  destiny,  of  human  relations, 
are  clarified  and  elevated.  They  are  here  given  a 
concreteness  and  vivid  reference  to  reality  without 
which  it  is  not  possible  to  associate  them  with  emo- 
tional dynamic.  However  independent  of  religion 
art  may  become,  yet  in  some  kind  of  an  experience 
of  free  contemplation  art  may  find  its  highest  inspi- 
ration; and  it  will  use  its  own  products  to  assist  in 
winning  the  attitude  of  mind  in  which  artistic  crea- 

1.  See  Chap.  II  and  VI.    Cf.    Hocking,  Meaning  of  God  in  Human  Ex- 
perience, Chap.  XXIV,  "Thought  and  Worship,"  esp.  pp.  350  fif, 

44 


Tlie  Purpose  of  Worship  45 

tivity  is  inspired.^  And  art,  too,  by  lending  har- 
mony and  beauty  to  a  service  of  worship,  will  minis- 
ter to  the  mood  of  reverence  within  which  moral 
attitudes  are  reinforced. 

From  our  previous  discussion  it  appears  thus  that 
every  service  in  the  Sunday  school  has  or  should  have 
two  purposes  running  through  it:  First,  it  should 
afford  training  in  worship — in  what  has  been  called 
the  larger  social  fellowship,  including  God  and  the 
rest  of  the  group — by  an  actual  participation  in 
worship.  Second,  it  should  have  as  its  objective 
the  presentation  and  illumination  of  some  specific 
social  value,  whether  moral,  intellectual  or  esthetic, 
which  shall,  through  its  emotional  setting  in  the 
service,  be  incorporated  into  the  life  of  the  child  as 
it  can  be  in  no  other  way. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  the  analysis  of  the 
social  values  to  be  realized  through  worship,  it  may 
be  well  at  this  point  to  suggest  the  place  of  leader- 
ship in  the  worship  of  the  Sunday  school.  We  found 
in  Chapter  II  that  religious  ceremonies,  in  their 
various  functions,  had  been  led  and  developed  by 
individuals  and  that  they  would  always  require  some 
kind  of  leadership.  Henry  Suzzallo,  in  his  editorial 
introduction  to  "Moral  Principles  in  Education" 
by  John  Dewey,  speaking  of  the  relations  of  expert 
opinion  and  public  opinion,  says: 

"In  the  conduct  of  the  schools,  it  is  well  for  the  citizen  to 
determine  the  ends  proper  to  them,  and  it  is  their  privilege  to 

1.  Cf.  Hocking,  op.  cit.,  pp.  407,  408,  416-420.  Also,  Browning,  Andrea 
del  Sarto,  Apt  Vogler. 


46  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

judge  of  the  efficacy  of  the  results.  Upon  questions  that  concern 
all  the  manifold  details  by  which  children  are  to  be  converted 
into  desirable  types  of  men  and  women,  the  expert  school-master 
should  be  authoritative,  at  least  to  a  degree  commensurate  with 
his  superior  knowledge  of  this  very  complex  problem.  The  ad- 
ministration of  the  schools,  the  making  of  the  course  of  study,  the 
selection  of  texts,  the  prescription  of  methods  of  teaching,  these 
are  matters  with  which  the  people,  or  their  representatives  upon 
boards  of  education,  cannot  deal  save  with  the  danger  of  becom- 
ing mere  meddlers." 

And  in  Chapter  II,  Dewey  himself  says,  "The 
moral  responsibility  of  the  school,  and  of  those  who 
conduct  it,  is  to  society." 

These  statements  are  equally  true  of  the  religious 
educator,  even  in  that  portion  of  his  regime  within 
which  falls  the  service  of  worship.  Is  not  the  leader 
of  worship  in  the  Sunday  school  morally  responsible 
to  the  community  for  the  sort  of  experience  the 
children  are  there  receiving,  and  for  the  kind  of 
values  they  are  there  being  trained  to  understand  and 
seek?  Where  the  community  is  unable  to  judge  of 
such  values,  the  leader  must  take  the  initiative  in 
guiding  the  course  of  the  child's  experience  in  the 
direction  of  what  he  conceives  to  be  the  highest 
social  values.  And  even  where  the  community  is 
capable  of  passing  judgment  on  the  great  ends  of 
religious  education,  then  he  should  be  free  to  control 
the  process  by  which  these  ends  are  gained,  whether 
it  be  in  class  work  or  in  worship. 

But  this  freedom  of  control  involves  a  correspond- 
ing responsibility  which,  indeed,  few  outside  of  the 
clergy  have  been  specially  trained  to  meet.     See 


The  Purpose  of  Worship  47 

what  this  ideal  director  of  religious  education  should 
be  in  his  capacity  as  leader  of  worship!  He  should 
in  the  first  place  be  himself  a  worshiper,  capable  of 
entering  fully  into  that  larger  fellowship  to  which 
he  is  to  introduce  his  congregation  of  children.  He 
should,  second,  be  himself  a  seeker  of  the  highest 
values  which  society,  in  its  best  moments,  has  sought. 
Third,  he  should  be  sensitive  to  the  progress  of  his 
own  community  toward  an  appreciation  of  such 
values.  Fourth,  he  should  be  familiar  with  the 
mind  of  the  child  and  its  growing  purposes.  Fifth, 
he  should  be  master  of  the  methods  by  which  in 
worship  the  child  mind  can  be  brought  into  vital 
connection  with  social  ideals,  so  that  it  shall  come 
to  adopt  them  as  its  own.  A  large  requirement,  no 
doubt,  and  one  not  soon  to  be  realized;  but  surely 
one  toward  which  we  must  look  with  confidence  if 
we  are  to  expect  the  usefulness  and  vitality  of  the 
service  of  worship  to  continue,  either  in  church  or 
Sunday  school. 

We  come  now  to  discuss  more  specifically  what 
social  values  are  to  be  sought  through  worship.  As 
was  suggested  in  Chapter  I,  education  is  concerned 
largely  with  the  cultivation  of  social  attitudes  as 
one  of  the  most  valuable  assets  in  human  relations, 
and  that  Christian  education  is  concerned  with  the 
development  of  attitudes  in  which  the  Christian 
purpose  finds  expression.  For  our  present  needs, 
we  may  define  the  Christian  purpose  as  the  intention 
to  live  and  to  help  others  to  live  as  children  of  God 
the   Father.     The   attitudes   characteristic   of   this 


48  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

family  relationship  are,  therefore,  the  social  values 
to  be  sought  through  worship. 

In  the  class  room,  the  interest  is  necessarily  intel- 
lectual. To  be  sure,  we  wish  the  ideas,  as  Dewey 
puts  it,  to  be  "acquired  in  such  a  vital  way  that 
they  become  moving  ideas,  motive  forces  in  the  guid- 
ance of  conduct."  That  is,  our  interest,  whether 
in  class  or  assembly,  is  to  make  active  Christians, 
and  not  simply  to  give  information.  Yet  in  the 
class,  it  is  primarily  through  the  acquisition  of  new 
knowledge  that  we  hope  to  attain  this  end;  while 
in  the  service  it  is  not  so  much  new  knowledge  as  new 
attitudes  that  we  hope  to  win.  How  central  in  the 
educational  scheme  the  service  then  becomes!  As 
was  just  now  suggested,  we  can  state  our  educational 
end  in  terms  of  attitudes.  If  we  could  follow  our 
pupils  day  by  day  through  the  week  we  would  state 
our  immediate  as  well  as  our  final  purpose  partly  in 
terms  of  conduct.  But  since  we  cannot  keep  con- 
duct in  continuous  control  under  our  present  system, 
we  must  trust  that  if  the  right  attitudes  are  won  in 
the  right  way,  they  will  work  themselves  out  to  some 
extent  in  the  refinement  of  conduct  and  character. 

Now  while  it  is  the  ethical  side  that  is  directly 
of  most  import,  while  it  is  the  actual  external  be- 
havior that  seems  of  most  social  significance,  yet 
the  emotional  reactions  are  vital,  further,  because  of 
their  organic  relation  to  general  eflBciency  and 
because  of  the  richness  and  satisfaction  of  mental 
life  which  they  involve.  We  want  more  than  mere 
machines  of  etiquette  performing  approximately  the 


The  Purpose  of  Worship  49 

right  act  at  the  right  time.  We  need  all  the  abun- 
dance of  a  varied  emotional  and  appreciative  experi- 
ence to  lend  worthwhileness  to  life  and  to  make 
possible  all  the  finer  discriminations  and  adjust- 
ments in  infinitely  changing  situations,  which  no 
mere  machine  can  accomplish. 

It  was  suggested  in  Chapter  I  that  efficiency  in 
conduct  is  one  method  of  gaining  and  one  means 
of  judging  character.  Another  method  is  found  not 
in  conduct  but  in  reflection — in  the  reorganization 
of  experience  and  in  appreciation  as  a  self -consistent 
value.  Its  justification  is  in  itself.  It  is  a  region 
of  empirical  experience  just  as  much  as  is  science. 
Wliether  or  not  it  may  claim  knowledge  of  a  reality 
known  through  this  experience,  just  as  science  claims 
the  reality  of  something  beyond  the  self,  as  the 
source  of  sensations,  need  not  be  discussed  here. 
Whether  the  experience  is  called  Mysticism  or  not, 
it  presents  a  claim  upon  the  attention  of  the  educator 
as  the  actual  attainment  of  certain  values  in  life. 
Among  these  values  we  may  count  conviction,  for 
example,  as  of  vital  importance,  indeed,  not  only  for 
individual  satisfaction,  but  also  for  social  efiiciency. 
Just  as  we  possess  as  a  self-consistent  value  the  sim- 
ple companionship  of  a  friend,  just  as  discussion 
could  be  regarded  by  Aristotle  as  the  chief  end  of 
the  State,  so  communion  with  God,  however  named 
or  explained,  possesses  a  satisfaction  that  needs  no 
further  apologetic  than  its  own  existence  affords. 

A  theory  of  education  can  hardly  pass  over, 
therefore,  the  possibility  of  cultivating  what  may 


50  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

be  called  the  devotional  life,  the  contemplative 
aspect  of  experience,  which  our  American  rush  has 
so  crowded  out.  This  is  chiefly  the  function  of  the 
general  assembly  of  the  school.  But  it  may  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  subject  is  vitally  related 
also  to  the  individual  life  and  practice,  and  to  private 
devotions. 

It  is,  then,  with  religious  attitudes  or  feelings, 
regarded  both  as  ends  in  themselves  and  as  means 
to  social  efficiency,  that  the  service  is  chiefly  con- 
cerned.^ 

What  attitudes  or  feelings,  then,  are  to  be  culti- 
vated in  worship,  which  will  give  concrete  content 
to  the  purpose  of  training  in  the  spirit  of  worship? 
For  convenience,  the  Christian  attitudes  suitable 
to  children  from  the  first  to  the  eighth  grades  (and, 
indeed,  when  properly  defined,  for  other  ages  as 
well)  might  be  summed  up  under  the  rubrics  Grati- 
tude, Goodwill,  Reverence,  Faith,  and  Loyalty. 
These  are  not  arbitrarily  chosen,  but  are  intended 
to  include  whatever  is  essential  to  the  child's  reli- 
gious relationships.  Other  names  might  be  pre- 
ferred, but  the  same  types  of  experience  would  have 
to  be  included  under  them,  and  any  name  would 
have  to  be  carefully  defined.  These  are  the  feelings 
which  appear  in  the  family  associations.  Others 
also  appear,  but  they  are  so  closely  related  to  these 
as  to  be  included  under  them — or  they  are  the  con- 
sequence of  the  absence  of  one  of  these  five! 

1.  This  follows  also  from  the  nature  of  feeling  and  emotion  and  the 
peculiar  facility  of  the  service  in  controlling  feeling.  This  matter  is  taken 
up  more  in  detail  in  Chaps.  V  and  VI. 


The  Purpose  of  Worship  51 

These  attitudes,  moreover,  furnish  convenient 
themes  around  which  to  group  a  series  of  services, 
and  which  are  fruitful  for  the  collection  and  or- 
ganization of  the  materials  of  the  service — hymns, 
psalms,  stories,  and  so  on.  If  each  theme  should  be 
given  approximately  six  weeks,  it  will  be  noted  that, 
taken  in  the  order  given,  they  fit  in  with  the  seasonal 
observances.  Thanksgiving,  Christmas  and  Easter. 
For  a  few  weeks  each  could  be  made  the  central 
theme  of  the  whole  service,  controlling  music,  re- 
sponses, prayers,  and  all  the  rest.  Although  no 
one  of  these  five  themes  is  exclusive  of  the  others, 
and  considerable  overlapping  is  unavoidable,  indeed 
desirable,  yet  each  does  represent  a  specific  emphasis. 
Each  includes  both  a  group  of  Christian  attitudes 
and  the  ideas  which  consciously  embody  or  formulate 
these  attitudes. 

A  brief  exposition  of  the  five  feelings  and  their 
inclusive  ideas  follows: 

Gratitude 

Gratitude  is  the  tender  and  joyous  emotional 
response  that  usually  manifests  itself  in  the  impulse 
to  repay  a  kindness.  There  is  the  feeling,  that  is, 
of  obligation,  the  consciousness  that  the  kindness 
has  cost  some  one  something,  or,  at  least,  as  Shand^ 
says,  is  an  indication  that  the  benefactor  is  willing 
to  sacrifice  himself  for  your  sake.  Schematically 
it  could  be  analyzed  as  follows: 

1.  Cf.  Shand,  Chap.  XVI  in  Stout's  Groundwork  of  Psychology.  See 
also  below,  p.  98. 


52 


Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 


THE  THINGS  OR  SITUATIONS  WHICH  SHOULD  CALL  OUT 
THE  RESPONSE  OF  GRATITUDE 


Real  situations, 

present  and  personal: 


Gifts,  services,  and  the 
general  present  situation 
of  home,  school,  food,  etc. 


Ideal  situations, 

personal  or  vicarious, 
imaginary  or  recalled: 

Description  or  recall 
of,  or  reference  to  gifts, 
services,  or  the  general 
situation  of  home,  school, 
and  so  on. 

Stories 

Pictures 

Etc. 


THE  REACTION   OF  GRATITUDE 


Direct: 


Indirect: 


The  attitude  of  gratitude, 

inclusive  of: 
Joy 

Tenderness 
The  impulse  to  repay 

(Feeling  of  obligation) 

Expressed  by  postures,  spon- 
taneous acts  and  excla- 
mations 


The  idea  of  gratitude. 
The  attitude  formulated 


Expressed  by  words  or 
by  deliberate  acts 


Goodwill 

Goodwill,  or  Love,  is  here  regarded  as  a  more 
perfectly  social  reaction  than  gratitude.  No  favors 
or  gifts  are  preliminary  to  it,  but  only  the  fact  of 
social  relation,  calling  for  a  sharing  of  interest.     In 


The  Purpose  of  Worship  53 

its  most  generalized  form,  Goodwill  might  be  thought 
of  as  the 

Universal        f  Sympathy  and  ^     ,1      « -^     v  •       1  c     •  * 
„  of    <  ,;:.    „.  to  the  Situation    }  Society 

Kesponse  [  Kindhness  J 

Thinking  of  person  No.  2  as  the  one  who  has  the 
attitude  of  goodwill,  and  of  No.  1  as  the  person 
toward  whom  he  feels  it,  we  have  the  varying  con- 
ditions of  No.  1  as  the  "situations"  to  which  No.  2 
makes  response. 


CONDITION  OF  SUBJECTIVE  RESPONSE 

PERSON  NO.  1  OF  PERSON  NO.  2 


Good  Fortune 

Happiness,  Joy,  etc. 

Ill  Fortune 
Sorrow 
Bitterness,  etc. 


Feelings  of: 
Joy 


Pity 
Sorrow 


Wrongdoing  Sorrow 

Ill-will,  etc.  Pity 


Forgiveness 


FORMS  OF  CONTROLLED  EXPRESSION 

Cheerful  Demeanor 
Kind  Acts 
Helpful  Acts 
Courtesy,  Respect 
Generous  Conduct 
Hospitable  Behavior 
Forgiving  all  Offenders 


54  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

Reverence^ 

As  the  spirit  of  worship  or  reverence  is  supposed 
to  be  present  in  the  service  anyway,  it  may  be 
asked  why  it  is  made  the  subject  of  a  special  period. 
The  answer  is  that  it  is  so  central  to  the  religious 
attitude  as  a  whole  that  it  needs  a  more  distinct 
emphasis  than  can  be  given  it  in  every  service, 
in  order  that  its  practice  and  forms  may  be  brought 
to  the  level  of  conscious  purpose.  The  religious 
state  of  mind  may  be  thought  of  as  having  two  poles, 
Reverence  and  Faith.  The  current  of  the  religious 
life  flows  steadily  from  one  to  the  other,  passing  out 
from  the  positive  pole  of  faith  into  the  circuit  of 
contact  with  the  world,  and  back  again  to  the 
negative  pole  of  reverence,  from  which,  through  the 
solution  of  the  experience  of  worship,  it  moves  on 
again  to  faith.  That  some  such  rhythm  exists  is 
a  necessary  consequence  of  the  consciousness  of 
the  self  that  is,  as  it  appears  in  contrast  with  the 
self  that  is  to  be,  or  with  the  ideal  self.  It  is  an 
accompaniment  of  the  consciousness  of  value.  The 
value  desired  is  felt  in  contrast  with  the  value  already 
attained,  and  then  the  value  desired  is  grasped 
for  with  a  vigorous  outreach  and  expansion  of  self. 
The  first  state  of  mind  is  that  of  reverence  and  the 
second  is  that  of  faith.  An  analysis  of  reverence 
is  attempted  on  the  following  page. 

1.  See  below.  Chap.  VI,  on  the  religious  feeling. 


The  Purpose  of  Worship 


55 


Reverence  may  be  analyzed  somewhat  in  this  wise : 


SITUATION 
TO  WHICH 
KESPONSE 
IS  MADE 


Authority 

Age 

Superiority 

Greatness 

Goodness 

Heroism 

Wisdom 
Law  (Social 

Control) 
Mystery 
The  idea  of  the 

presence  of  God 


SUBJEC- 
TIVE 

RESPONSE. 
FEELINGS 
OF 


Awei 

Fear 

Wonder 

Admiration 
Tender  Feeling 
Submission 

Respect 

Dependence 

Love 
Penitence,  Regret 


OVERT 
RESPONSE 


Acts  of  Respect 

Obedience 

Worship 

Praise 

Communion 
Repentance,  New  Resolves 
(Reparation) 


Faith 

The  significance  of  the  Faith  attitude  in  religion 
has  already  been  suggested.  Beginning  sometimes 
with  surrender  to  God  and  absolute  reliance  on  him, 
faith  passes  on  into  the  realization  of  one's  own 
possible  contribution  to  the  purpose  of  God.  As 
such  it  is  necessarily  self-assertive  in  the  highest 
sense.     It  is  the  demand  for  life  and  opportunity; 

1.  See  p.  98. 


56  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

the  assertion  that  the  highest  values  are  ultimately 
necessary  to  the  self,  and  that  what  is  needed  will 
therefore  be  found  or  created.  It  is  the  spitit  of 
confidence  and  hope  which  lies  back  of  creative 
effort.  It  anticipates  experience;  its  reference  is 
future.  It  lives  in  the  future  as  memory  lives  in 
the  past.  Yet  it  lives  also  in  the  present,  for  its 
genius  is  to  transform  possibility — nay  even  "im- 
possibiHty"  into  present  and  vivid  fact.  Ulti- 
mately faith  refers  to  persons,  though  proximately 
it  may  refer  to  causes  or  ideals.  It  is  a  conviction 
concerning  the  goodness  or  capacity  of  someone. 
Among  the  objects  of  faith  are  persons  actively  en- 
gaged in  a  cause  or  believed  to  be  capable  of  growth 
or  achievement.  Hence  there  is  faith  in  self,  in 
friends,  in  human  nature,  in  God — all  thought  of 
as  ultimately  going  to  succeed  in  some  undertaking. 

This  too  is  an  aspect  of  the  valuation  process. 
As  religion  is  the  revaluation  of  all  values  in  terms 
of  a  completely  realized  self,  so  faith  is  the  mood 
or  state  of  mind  in  which  this  achievement  of  new 
values  for  the  self  and  the  conservation  of  old  values 
for  the  self  is  won. 

Faith  has  so  many  factors  that  it  is  difficult  to 
classify  them  or  list  them,  but  the  following  may 
be  suggestive: 


The  Purpose  of  Worship 


57 


THE 

OBJECT  OR 
SITUATION 
TO  WHICH 
RESPONSE 
IS  MADE 


God 
Persons 

(Human  Nature) 
Self 
Natural  Law 

The  Order  of 
Events 
Ideals 
Principles 
Worthy  Causes 


THE 

RESPONSE 
IN  FEELING 


THE  RESPONSE 

IN  ACT 


SeK-Control 

Cheerful  Endurance 

Confident  and 
Joyous  Activity 
in  the  Direction 
of  an  Ideal 


Hope 
Assurance 
Joy 
<   Freedom 
Aspiration 
Confidence 
Trust 


Loyalty 

Loyalty  involves  an  extension  of  the  self-feeling. 
The  interest  in  the  self  is  identified  with  the  interests 
of  the  person,  group,  institution  or  cause  toward 
which  one  is  loyal.  The  sense  of  ownership,  of  per- 
sonal possession,  is  strong.  The  loyal  individual 
feels  that  the  cause  is  his  cause,  the  team,  his  team, 
and  that  all  that  touches  this  touches  him.  Loyalty 
involves  also  self-surrender.  There  is  a  giving  up 
of  the  self  to  the  object  of  loyalty.  The  self  is 
invested  in  the  cause  or  institution.  The  feeling 
of  ownership  is  here  also,  but  now  the  cause  owns 
the  man.  He  has  devoted,  that  is,  given  himself  to  it. 
^  The  objects  of  loyalty  in  which  the  religious  educa- 
tor is  interested  are  many;  for  example,  the  family. 


58  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

friends,  the  church,  the  school,  public  institutions, 
Christian  ideals  of  character  and  conduct,  and  so  on. 
But  the  theme  "Loyalty"  represents  also  a  review. 
We  have  to  be  faithful  not  only  to  the  demands 
of  friendship  (including  the  friendship  of  God), 
not  only  to  the  friendly  groups  of  family,  commu- 
nity and  country,  and  that  largest  group,  the 
Kingdom  of  God;  but  also  to  all  the  principles  and 
ideals  so  far  achieved  and  made  conscious:  Grati- 
tude, Goodwill,  Reverence,  and  Faith. 

The  foregoing  scheme  is  seen  to  be  a  large  one 
and  to  embrace  more  in  each  division  than  can  be 
adequately  treated  in  six  sessions.  But  a  longer 
Period  for  each  will  be  found  monotonous.  With 
such  purposes  for  the  service  in  mind,  therefore, 
one  could  break  away  from  this  grouping  of  topics 
and  carry  the  principle  of  instruction  in  attitudes 
in  a  similar  way  through  the  year.  It  might  be 
preferable  to  devote  only  one  Sunday  at  a  time  to 
one  such  topic,  and  thus  carry  the  development 
forward  at  a  slower,  but  it  may  be,  a  surer  pace. 

Before  showing  how  these  themes  can  be  incor- 
porated into  definite  orders  of  service,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  consider  at  some  length  the  nature  of 
feeling,  and  its  relation  to  worship  and  to  the  prin- 
ciples and  methods  of  education.  This  then  will 
form  the  subject  matter  of  the  next  two  chapters. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  NATURE  OF  FEELING  AND  THE  PLACE 
OF  FEELING  IN  EDUCATION 

So  far  we  have  come  to  see  that  in  religious  edu- 
cation we  are  to  develop  certain  feeling  attitudes, 
and  we  have  suggested  that  the  service  of  worship 
is  the  proper  means  to  use  for  this  purpose.  In 
the  preceding  chapter  we  attempted  what  may  be 
called  a  social  analysis  of  the  feelings  to  be  culti- 
vated in  worship.  Now  in  the  construction  of 
services  one  purpose  of  which  is  to  control  and 
develop  feeling,  it  will  be  helpful  to  have  in  mind 
what  '* Feeling"  is,  what  function  it  serves  in  the 
development  of  the  race  and  of  the  individual,  and 
what  relation  it  bears  to  the  experience  of  worship 
itself.  We  have  therefore  to  make  a  psychological 
analysis  of  feeling.  In  the  present  chapter  we  shall 
discuss  first,  the  general  place  of  feeling  in  evolution, 
and  second,  the  functional  view  of  the  nature  of 
feeling,  and  the  place  of  feeling  in  education.  But 
first  a  word  as  to  method  in  the  psychology  of 
feeling. 

It  would  naturally  be  expected  that  feeling  would 
be  differently  treated  by  different  types  of  psycho- 
logical interest.  On  the  one  hand  there  is  struc- 
tural psychology.  It  is  concerned  with  the  content 
of  consciousness,  the  elements  out  of  which  the 


60  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

stuff  of  consciousness  is  built.  Or  it  may  devote  it- 
self to  locating  in  the  brain  the  exact  areas  concerned 
with  various  aspects  of  the  mind.  To  arrive  at  its 
conclusions  it  may  use  several  methods,  but  its 
chief  tool  is  introspection.  The  analyst  looks 
into  his  own  mind  and  describes  what  he  finds 
there.  He  supplements  this  descriptive  study  with 
experiment  and  inference  from  the  actions  of  other 
minds.  He  may  even  go  into  the  physiology  of 
brain  action  for  light  on  some  diflScult  problems 
of  self -analysis.  But  his  interest  is  to  classify  and 
tabulate  the  material  of  consciousness. 

On  the  other  side,  there  is  functional  psychology 
which,  while  not  neglecting  the  description  of  the 
contents  of  consciousness,  is  more  concerned  with 
finding  out  what  the  mind  does  than  what  it  is. 
It  analyzes  the  materials  of  conscious  activity 
to  show  why  the  mind  behaves  in  a  certain  way 
under  certain  conditions,  or  how  it  attains  its  ends. 
The  chief  interest  is  in  the  activity  rather  than  in 
the  state  of  mind.  When  coupled  with  physiological 
psychology  it  may  even  at  times  go  so  far  as  to 
ignore  the  contents  of  the  mind  altogether  and 
study  only  the  reactions  of  a  body  in  various  situa- 
tions. 

The  method  of  functional  psychology  is  thus 
seen  to  be  primarily  the  experimental  study  of 
overt  acts.  The  question  "why"  is  not  asked, 
but  only  the  question  "  what . ' '  The  assumed  answer 
to  "why"  is:  That  is  the  way  the  creature  is  made. 
The  problem  of  the  relation  of  consciousness  to 


Feeling  and  Education  61 

action  may  be  assumed  to  be  unanswerable,  or  it 
may  simply  be  thought  of  as  outside  the  proper 
field  of  psychological  study,  or  it  may  be  regarded 
as  having  some  relation  to  conduct,  positive  or  neg- 
ative, whether  that  relation  can  be  defined  or  not. 

What  is  the  place  of  Feeling,  then,  in  these  differ- 
ent types  of  psychology?  How  is  it  regarded  by 
them?  The  structuralists  naturally  look  at  it 
either  as  a  faculty  or  as  an  element  of  mind.  It 
may  be  thought  of  as  something  coordinate  with 
intellect  and  will,  or  merely  as  an  irreducible 
element  or  atom  of  mind  which  cannot  be  further 
differentiated.  In  the  latter  case  the  emphasis  is 
placed  not  on  feeling  as  a  faculty,  but  on  the  feel- 
ings, as  of  many  kinds  and  qualities.  Great  effort 
may  be  made  to  distinguish  feelings  from  sensations 
or  to  identify  the  two.  The  feelings  are  classified 
and  catalogued.  The  emotions  may  be  variously 
analyzed  as  subsidiary  to  feeling  or  as  inclusive  of 
all  feelings. 

The  functionalists,  on  the  other  hand,  try  to 
discover  what  purpose  feeling  serves;  where  it 
belongs  in  the  on-going  mental  process;  what  may 
be  its  typical  forms  of  physical  expression  and 
under  what  conditions  they  appear.  Some  would 
think  of  it  as  the  spring  of  all  action  and  others  as 
the  product  of  action.  Still  others  make  feeling 
the  coordinate  accompaniment  of  action.  But 
always  is  it  located  in  the  cycle  of  consciousness 
with  reference  to  activity  and  function. 

The  great  difficulty  of  handling  feeling  psycho- 


62  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

logically  will  perhaps  now  be  seen.  As  an  object 
of  direct  introspection  feeling  is  illusory.  It  dis- 
appears when  observed,  or  changes  its  character. 
As  an  object  of  memory  it  is  still  more  untractable, 
for  no  feeling  can  be  contained  in  words  or  revived 
at  will  without  reference  to  the  situation  which 
originally  called  it  forth.  And  to  make  feeling  the 
object  of  experimental  study  may  also  be  a  way 
fraught  with  peril,  for  the  subject's  state  of  feeling 
can  be  determined  only  by  inference  from  what  he 
does,  or  by  his  own  introspection.^ 

The  tendency,  however,  seems  to  be  to  depend 
less  and  less  on  direct  introspection  and  to  use  more 
and  more  of  the  data  which,  like  those  of  sensation, 
memory,  and  so  on,  can  be  collected  by  observing 
subjects  under  controlled  conditions,  and  by  con- 
sidering such  external  features  of  activity  as  the 
changes  in  the  nervous  system.  The  result  is  that 
feeling  comes  to  be  placed  on  the  out-going,  react- 
ing side  of  mental  activity,  and  is  regarded  there- 
fore as  only  indirectly  and  by  inference  a  source  of 
knowledge  of  the  outside  world.  Feeling,  that  is,  is  a 
phase  of  adjustment  manifesting  itself  in  conscious- 
ness as  an  attitude  toward  an  object  or  situation. 

1.  James'  data  for  the  theory  of  feeling,  as  they  appear  in  his  Psychology, 
seem  to  be  chiefly  the  product  of  self-analysis  and  general  observation, 
supported  by  such  physiological  knowledge  as  he  could  use  and  by  such 
experiment  as  seemed  helpful.  Dewey  classifies  the  feeUngs  and  their  nu- 
merous variations  in  a  schematic  way  in  his  Psychology.  His  two  articles 
in  the  Psychological  Review,  1894,  on  the  "Theory  of  Emotion,"  attempt  to 
reconcile  Darwin  and  James  by  restating  the  positions  of  both  men  on  the 
basis  of  his  own  introspection  and  in  the  light  of  a  more  thoroughgoing  func- 
tional point  of  view.  Wundt,  by  actual  experiment,  works  out  his  theories 
of  the  relation  of  pleasure  and  pain  to  sensation.  Judd  makes  his  studies 
still  more  objective  and  experimental,  thus  building  up  his  theory  of  atti- 
tudes. Thorndike  goes  still  farther  back,  finding  support  for  the  prevailing 
functional  view  of  feeling  in  the  physiology  of  brain  cells. 


Feeling  and  Education  63 

Having  thus  seen  the  general  way  in  which  the 
subject  of  feeling  is  approached  by  psychology,  it 
may  be  valuable  for  us  to  refer  to  the  work  of  some 
who  have  been  interested  more  specifically  in  the 
field  of  religion.  Turning  first  to  J.  P.  Hylan's 
monograph,  "Public  Worship,"  we  find  the  ques- 
tionaire  method  used  as  one  means  of  discovering 
the  mental  processes  involved  in  worship.  Among 
the  elements  of  worship  is  emotion.  Just  what 
emotions  are  aroused  is  supposed  to  be  found  by 
consulting  the  answers  to  certain  questions  of  the 
questionaires.  On  such  evidence  he  concludes 
that  the  religious  emotion  is  distinct  from  other 
emotions  and  that  the  "natural  expression  of  relig- 
ious emotion  is  the  moral  control  of  conduct." 
And  then  he  goes  on  to  show  that  the  function  of 
worship  is  to  reinforce  with  religious  emotion  the 
motives  to  moral  conduct.  So  far  as  Hylan  has 
made  use  of  his  knowledge  of  the  history  of  religion 
and  of  general  psychology,  his  method  seems  to 
be  sound  enough,  but  the  questionaire  aspect  of 
the  work  needs  to  be  taken  with  caution.  The 
questions  themselves  are  often  suggestive  of  the 
answers,  or  require  a  finer  power  of  analysis  than 
the  average  person  possesses.  The  proportion  of 
answers  to  questionaires  sent  out  is  not  stated. 
And  finally,  conclusions  are  drawn  from  small 
percentages  of  answers  and  then  applied  universally. 

Ames'  treatment  of  feeling^  in  its  relation  to  reli- 
gion is  not  an  attempt  to  get  new  data,  but  rather 

1,  Ames,  E.  S.,  The  Psychology  of  Religious  Experience,  Chap.  XVII. 


64  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

to  state  the  bearing  of  current  theories  of  feeling 
upon  the  psychology  of  religious  experience.  He 
recognizes  that  feeling  does  not  exist  for  its  own  sake 
and  that  it  may  become  a  form  of  dissipation  or 
disease  when  too  divorced  from  practical  experience. 
Yet  the  dynamic  relation  of  feeling  to  action,  which 
he  mildly  states  with  reference  to  experience  in 
general,  is  not  given  full  justice  when  it  is  discussed 
in  its  relation  to  religious  experience.  Pratt ^  and 
Starbuck^  employ  the  same  general  method,  depend- 
ing for  the  most  part  upon  a  re-analysis  of  old  data 
and  upon  direct  introspection  of  the  same  type 
as  heretofore  described. 

This  will  serve  to  indicate  the  complexity  of  the 
problem  and  the  inadequacy  of  the  methods  so 
far  used.  Introspection  is  certainly  invaluable, 
but  it  needs  support  from  experimental  study, 
as  is  plainly  indicated  by  the  great  variety  of 
theories  evolved  by  the  different  users  of  this 
method.  Yet  most  of  the  experimental  work  that 
has  been  done  seems  not  to  be  wholly  conclusive, 
and  the  experimenters  fall  back  on  self-analysis 
as  the  surest  road  to  a  knowledge  of  feeling.  That 
introspection  must  always  be  used  is  of  course 
recognized,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  objective 
methods  may  be  devised  by  which  useful  material 
may  be  gathered  for  introspection  to  work  upon 
and  for  reflection  to  organize  into  a  more  consistent 
and  satisfactory  theory  of  feeling  than  is  now  known. 

1.  Pratt,  J.  B.,  The  Psychology  of  Religious  Belief. 

2.  Starbuck,  E.  D.,  "Feelings  and  Their  Place  in  Religion,"  Am.  Journ. 
Rel.  Psych,  and  Educa.  Vol.  I,  p.  168. 


Feeling  and  Education  Q5 

Feeling  and  Evolution 

In  trying  to  grasp  the  nature  and  meaning  of 
consciousness  and  its  place  and  function  in  the 
evolutionary  process  called  life,  one's  thought  soon 
brings  him  up  aghast  against  the  impenetrable 
mystery  of  things.  Physical  science  has  found 
that  it  cannot  account  for  what  seems  to  go  on 
in  nature  without  thinking  of  matter  as  a  form 
of  energy,  and  searching  out  as  its  foundation  the 
ultimate  unit  charge  of  negative  electricity  moving 
through  space.  In  a  similar  way  biological  science 
cannot  explain  the  behavior  of  animals,  the  actions 
of  men,  alone  and  in  society,  without  a  something 
called  consciousness.  The  Things  of  Physics  were 
once  thought  of  as  of  one  substance,  then  of  a  few 
elements,  then  of  atoms  in  molecules  and  compounds; 
but  finally  the  atom,  too,  burst  like  a  rocket  into 
a  thousand  infinitesimal  corpuscles,  and  the  dark 
sky  of  knowledge  blazed  for  a  moment  with  a  new 
explanation  of  things.  Mind,  in  like  manner,  was 
once  taken  wholesale,  or  divided  into  elements  of 
intellect,  will,  and  feeling.  Soon  came  finer  divisions 
of  faculties  and  of  sensational  atoms  out  of  which 
the  complex  compound  of  a  conscious  state  was 
supposed  to  be  built.  And  now  a  strict  psycho- 
physical parallelism  finds  significance  for  the  mind 
in  each  of  the  millions  of  cells  of  which  the  nervous 
system  is  built.  And  as  an  undefined  something 
called  energy  is  the  unifying  principle  of  matter, 
so  an  undefined  something  called  consciousness 
is  the  unifying  principle  of  life. 


66  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

It  is  conceivable  that  with  a  perfect  knowledge 
of  a  man's  experience  and  a  complete  location 
and  measurement  of  all  the  functions  of  all  the 
nerve  cells  of  the  brain,  one  could  discover  the 
content  of  consciousness;  and  some  would  even 
say  that,  given  all  this  knowledge,  they  could  also 
state  what  direction  consciousness  would  then  take 
under  specified  conditions,  and  so  make  of  con- 
sciousness an  epi-phenomenon,  a  secretion  of  the 
brain.  But  even  if  it  were,  was  there  ever  a  secre- 
tion of  no  use?  The  liver  secretes  the  bile,  to 
be  sure,  but  the  bile  has  a  vital  organic  function 
without  which  the  liver  could  not  exist.  Irrespec- 
tive of  all  theories  of  its  production,  '*  without 
consciousness,  no  brain"  is  as  true  as  "without 
the  brain,  no  consciousness."  The  interaction  of 
structure  and  function  in  evolution,  the  dependence 
of  life  on  matter  as  its  condition  and  field  of  opera- 
tion, suggest  the  possible  further  identification  or 
correlation  of  energy  and  consciousness  in  a  com- 
pletely universal  principle  of  unity. 

If  our  language  were  built  upon  an  experience 
of  a  world  which  was  temporal  only,  and  not  spatial, 
we  might  more  easily  describe  the  content  of  con- 
sciousness as  a  series  of  events  which  can  never 
be  reversed  and  which  can  be  read  only  in  one 
direction.  We  cannot  turn  around  and  move 
toward  the  past.  Yet  consciousness  does  seem 
to  have  also  a  spatial  content  and  a  spatial  effect. 
But  even  so,  it  can  hardly  be  located  in  space; 
spatial   analogies   fail   to   describe   it.     We   try   to 


Feeling  and  Education  67 

locate  it  geometrically  by  drawing  a  line  of  cross 
section  between  the  me  and  the  not-me.  There 
seems  to  be  a  fence  between  me  and  the  so-called 
world.  I  stand  on  one  side  but  can  not  see  over, 
while  on  the  other  side  is  a  something  or  somebody 
tossing  over  blocks  of  sensation  of  all  shapes  and 
sizes  for  me  to  catch.  These  I  fit  together  into  a 
structure  which  represents  for  me  the  thing  that  is 
on  the  other  side  of  the  fence.  But  there  are  many 
fences.  There  is  one  between  my  family  and 
society,  one  between  my  body  and  its  physical 
environment;  one  between  my  brain  and  what  my 
body  brings  to  my  brain;  and  finally  one  between 
that  subtle  thing  called  consciousness  and  my 
brain  itself  with  all  that  it  represents  of  the  non-ego. 
There  is  the  inner  court  at  whose  gates  the  yelling 
mob  of  sensations  is  battering  for  entrance;  while 
behind  the  mystic  veil  lies  the  Holy  of  holies  to 
which  we  find  entrance  only  in  those  rare  moments 
when  we  feel  most  keenly  the  thrill  and  throb  of 
cosmic  life,  and  seem  to  come  into  touch  with  a 
world  that  is  not  of  sense  and  sight. 

All  our  chemical  analysis  will  not  initiate  us  into 
the  inner  life.  There  is  only  one  door,  and  that  is 
introspection.  But  the  pioneers  seem  to  agree 
in  general  on  what  is  inside,  which  may  indicate 
that  each  consciousness  explored  is  not  an  altogether 
unique  entity,  but  possesses  a  common  element  like 
the  water  of  an  estuary  or  of  a  swirl  or  eddy  in  the 
all-inclusive  deep  of  cosmic  consciousness.  Or,  to 
put  it  in  another  way,  consciousness  is  essentially 


68  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

social.  Cross  sections  of  the  stream  of  conscious- 
ness at  any  point  present  in  a  graphic,  diagram- 
matic way  what  is  passing.  But  the  sections  have 
to  be  analyzed  and  blocked  off  into  areas  variously 
named  sensations,  images,  feelings,  and  so  on.  And 
the  result  is  that  our  diagram  is  no  more  like  the 
reality  than  botany  is  like  a  rose.  Nevertheless, 
as  botany  helps  us  grow  roses,  so  psychology  helps 
us  grow  minds. 

But  it  will  not  do  so  unless  we  can  get  at  some 
workable  theory  of  the  relation  between  our  minds 
and  our  bodies,  even  though  that  theory  be  simply 
that  everything  in  behavior  can  be  accounted 
for  without  reference  to  consciousness  at  all;  that 
is,  that  conscious  states  are  convenient  names 
for  physiological  processes.  We  might  hold  that 
consciousness  is  not  needed  to  explain  changes  in 
the  individual's  habitual  reactions  in  the  direction 
of  more  successful  activity,  for  success  is  nervous 
equilibrium  called  satisfaction.  What  has  the  con- 
scious hearing  of  a  sound  got  to  do  with  the  start 
or  the  running  away.'^  These  are  automatic  con- 
nections between  certain  kinds  of  vibrations  of  the 
ear  drum  and  certain  motor  cells.  The  awareness 
of  what  goes  on  does  not  help  any.  It  need  not 
have  anything  to  do  even  with  the  variation  of  the 
reaction.  The  mere  physiological  recording  of 
responses  which  on  one  occasion  or  another  of  the 
same  sort  led  to  equilibrium  would  tend  to  draw 
off  the  stimulus  on  a  similar  occasion  in  those  chan- 
nels rather  than  in  any  other.     The  fact  of  learning 


Feeling  and  Education  69 

to  do  something  by  selecting  from  among  a  variety 
of  random  acts  only  those  that  are  successful  might 
thus  be  accounted  for  without  the  aid  of  conscious- 
ness, by  the  almost  inconceivable  intricacy  of 
countless  connections  between  millions  of  neurones. 

But  would  this  carry  us  beyond  the  point  of 
sheer  existence?  It  might  almost  seem  that  the 
capacity  to  react  to  an  external  stimulus  is  enough 
to  account  for  progress.  Congenital  variations 
present  continually  new  responses  and  structures 
which  are  selected  for  perpetuation  through  the 
survival  of  those  members  of  the  species  which 
possess  them.  Given  time  enough  and  sufficiently 
varied  conditions,  and  it  seems  as  though  any 
behavior  or  structure  might  thus  appear.  Sensi- 
tivity and  consciousness  are  not  identical.  The 
brain  does  not  need  consciousness  to  record  expe- 
rience, to  anticipate  experience,  to  bottle  up  expe- 
rience in  the  harmonious  group  action  of  neurones, 
or  to  compare  and  relate  experiences  by  cross  con- 
duction between  these  groups. 

In  his  essay  on  '*A  Pragmatic  Substitute  for 
Free  Will"^  Thorndike  describes  what  may  be  tak- 
ing place  among  the  neurones  in  any  coordinated 
activity.  Each  neurone  has  its  own  life  to  live, 
with  its  three  functions  of  nutrition,  conduction 
and  movement.  The  movement  is  of  the  dendrites 
or  branching  filaments  at  the  extremity  of  the  cell 
by  which  one  cell  is  brought  into  contact  with  another 
and  a  conduction  made  possible.     The  conduction 

1.  Essays  Philosophical  and  Psychological  in  Honor  of  William  Jamea. 


70  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

of  the  nerve  current  is  favorable  to  increased  nutri- 
tion and  the  resulting  state  is  favorable  to  continued 
movement.  There  is  a  kind  of  struggle  for  exist- 
ence among  the  neurones  or  cells.  As  long  as  con- 
duction and  nutrition  proceed,  the  movement  which 
has  been  practiced  will  continue,  that  is,  the  con- 
nection will  be  maintained.  If  the  other  two  func- 
tions are  disturbed,  the  movement  of  the  terminal 
processes  and,  therefore,  the  connection  with  the 
other  cells  will  be  changed.  Over-stimulation  de- 
creases nutrition  and  alters  the  connection,  while 
normal  stimulation  increases  nutrition  and  strength- 
ens the  connection. 

By  congenital  equipment,  certain  stimulations 
from  the  environment  affecting  the  sense  organs, 
or  stimulations  from  the  chemical  changes  in  the 
body  are  connected  through  the  sensory  and  motor 
neurones  with  certain  reactions,  which,  by  natural 
selection,  have  been  preserved  in  the  line  of  devel- 
opment, because  of  their  customary  success  in 
restoring  chemical  equilibrium.  Certain  other  con- 
nections exist  in  a  weaker  degree,  or  in  poten- 
tial, between  sensory  neurones  and  various  motor 
cells.  The  sensory  stimulus  will  discharge  through 
first  one  connection  and  then  another,  with  first 
one  organic  response  and  then  another,  until  the 
reaction  is  made  which  removes  the  exciting  cause; 
and  the  neurones  which  made  the  successful  con- 
nection or  movement,  in  draining  off  the  whole 
surplus,  will  be  best  nourished,  and  this  connection 
will  therefore  be  best  preserved.     And  so  one  might 


Feeling  and  Education  71 

account  for  connections  between  groups  of  neurones 
which  we  name  the  association  of  ideas. 

If  all  this  seems  to  be  too  fantastic  a  notion, 
call  to  mind  that  strange  instrument,  the  tele- 
graphone.  A  steel  ribbon  is  so  arranged  in  con- 
nection with  a  moving  electromagnet  that  it  will 
incorporate  into  its  structure  certain  magnetic 
changes  controlled  by  sound  waves  through  the 
medium  of  a  microphone.  If  the  electromagnet 
is  then  connected  with  a  telephone  and  again  passed 
over  the  ribbon,  the  sounds,  such  as  the  words  of 
a  speech,  are  reproduced  in  perfect  detail.  Any 
number  of  speeches  can  be  intermingled  in  the 
ribbon  by  slight  changes  in  the  apparatus,  and 
afterwards  reproduced  separately  as  desired,  by 
repeating  the  respective  conditions  of  the  recording.^ 
Yet  compare  the  simplicity  of  that  apparatus  with 
the  marvelous  complexity  of  the  nervous  machinery 
of  man. 

So  much  for  this  theory.  But  now  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  antecedent  of  any  voluntary  behavior 
includes  a  conscious  as  well  as  physiological  ele- 
ment, and  to  deny  the  influence  of  consciousness 
is  quite  as  radical  as  to  deny  the  use  of  the  brain. 
To  apply  a  metaphor  of  Baldwin's^  to  my  figure,  the 
telegraphone  does  not  function  without  the  current. 
Unless  it  becomes  magnetized  in  a  certain  way  by 
the  electric  current  it  is  not  a  telegraphone;  it  is 
simply  a  wire.  Without  consciousness  there  is  no 
brain,  but  only  an  aggregate  of  chemical  compounds. 

1.  Scientific  American,  Vol.  89,  p.  237,  Vol.  88,  p.  317. 

2.  Baldwin,  J.  M.,  Development  and  Evolution,  p.  130, 


72  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

What  is  lacking  then  in  this  creature  that  pre- 
sents the  appearance  of  normal  behavior  even  to 
adaptation  to  intricate  and  changing  environments? 
Somehow  he  does  not  seem  to  possess  that  "snap'* 
which  MacVannel  has  described  as  distinguishing 
art  from  technic;  there  is  no  unifying  principle, 
no  spontaneity,  no  ontogenetic  purpose.  But  sup- 
pose among  the  congenital  variations  there  ever 
occurred,  not  a  new  connection  between  neurones, 
or  a  particular  kind  of  nervous  activity,  but  an 
esprit  de  corps,  an  organic  satisfaction  as  an  onto- 
genetic or  individual  value,  on  an  entirely  different 
plane  from  the  phylogenetic  value  of  mere  existence. 
At  this  point  sensitivity  becomes  feeling.  This 
may  indeed  be  present  in  the  most  primitive  form 
of  life,  and  it  is  none  the  less  consciousness  as  an 
organic  function,  possessing  the  real  dynamic  of 
evolution  without  which,  as  we  have  seen,  it  is  only 
barely  conceivable  that  anything  more  complicated 
than  an  amoeba  could  have  been  produced.^  But 
as  soon  as  born,  this  germ  of  consciousness  inverses 
its  function  and  becomes,  while  still  a  means  to 
race  development,  the  end  of  individual  existence 
in  the  feeling  of  satisfaction. 

But  given  this  feeling,  what  does  it  do.^^  How 
does  it  work  back  into  the  organism  and  so  biologi- 
cally justify  its  existence?  The  condition  of  this 
satisfaction  Thorndike  has   described   as  readiness 

1.  Davidson,  following  Rosmini,  regards  some  such  feeling,  rather  in 
the  form  of  desire  and  aversion  than  of  satisfaction,  as  the  fundamental 
principle  of  all  existence,  manifest  in  the  physical  world  as  gravitation  and 
chemical  affinity — the  primeval  forms  of  love  and  hate.  History  of  Edu- 
cation, pp.  3-5. 


Feeling  and  Education  73 

of  stimulated  neurones  to  conduct  a  nerve  current; 
but  the  condition  of  the  neurones  is  not  the  satis- 
faction. No  description  can  include  the  evaluation 
of  an  experience.  If  feeling  does  indeed  work  back 
it  would  almost  seem  that  we  shall  have  to  abandon 
the  law  of  the  conservation  of  energy  and  admit 
that  here  at  least  something  disappears  from  the 
physical  and  appears  in  the  spiritual  and  that  some- 
thing in  the  spiritual  breaks  in  upon  the  natural 
order;  or  else  regard  the  two  orders  as  either  both 
within  matter,  which  is  difficult,  or  within  conscious- 
ness, which  is  hard  to  understand;  or  within  a 
third  something  with  which  both  are  tending  to 
become  unified.  The  creation  and  destruction  of 
energy  would  then  be  only  apparent,  since  energy 
in  the  physical  world  and  consciousness  in  the  spir- 
itual world  would  be  ultimately  of  the  same  order 
of  existence. 

Although  the  what  and  the  how  of  nervous  action 
in  consciousness  are  not  known,  attempts  have  been 
made  to  locate  the  cells  concerned.  The  conscious- 
ness of  feeling,  or  this  satisfaction  of  which  we  were 
speaking,  seems  to  have  no  definite  localization,  but 
is  rather  a  correlate  of  certain  general  nervous  con- 
ditions. A  brief  statement  of  Thorndike's  argu- 
ment for  the  influence  of  satisfaction  on  conduct 
may  not  be  out  of  place. 

1.  Physiologically,  behavior  in  higher  animals  is  a  struggle  for 
existence  among  neurone  connections.  Habit  is  the  survival  of  a 
connection. 

2.  The  main  functions  of  neurone  life  are  nutrition,  movement 
and  conduction. 


74  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

3.  Modifiability  of  an  animal,  or  the  elimination  and  survival 
of  connections,  is  due  to  the  movements  of  the  neurones  only, 
that  is,  to  certain  arrangements  of  the  terminal  arborizations. 

4.  A  modifiable  neurone  acts  as  does  any  unicellular  organism. 
When  life  activities  proceed  well,  it  continues  the  existing  activity. 
When  not,  it  makes  such  other  responses  as  it  is  provided  with. 
Action  is  probably  limited  to  the  terminal  processes  and  the 
repertoire  of  acts  is  probably  as  narrow  as  in  the  amoeba. 

5.  Activity  in  conduction  puts  neurones  in  the  physiological 
state  favorable  to  activity  in  nutrition,  and  this  provokes  a 
physiological  state  favorable  to  activity  in  movement. 

6.  The  parallel  to  discomfort  is  excessive  stimulation  to  con- 
duction, that  is,  more  stimulus  than  is  at  the  time  readily  con- 
ducted off  to  other  neurones. 

7.  The  parallel  of  satisfaction  is  normal  stimulation  to  conduc- 
tion, that  is,  such  stimulation  as  is  at  the  time  readily  conducted 
off  to  other  neurones.     (Action  without  inhibition.) 

8.  Over-stimulation  of  a  neurone  group  decreases,  and  normal 
stimulation  increases  the  temporary  supply  of  food  to  the  neurone 
system  as  a  whole. i 

.  .  .  .  But  how?  Here  the  defense  passes 
admittedly  beyond  psychology  into  inference  from 
the  debilitating  effect  of  pain  and  grief  and  the 
strengthening  effect  of  pleasure,  and  the  hypothesis 
that  some  such  sj^stem  could  easily  be  evolved. 
Doubtless  it  has  been  evolved,  but  the  interaction 
of  consciousness  and  brain  is  left  as  much  in  the 
dark  as  ever. 

But  the  facts  of  organic  evolution  force  us  to 
retain  the  inference  of  some  dynamic  relation  of 
consciousness  to  organic  function,  although  psy- 
chology fails  to  give  any  adequate  explanation  of 
the    process,    for    "parallelism    explains    nothing." 

1.  Thorndike,  essay  cited. 


Feeling  and  Education  75 

And  so  the  functional  psychologists  propose  "psycho- 
physical unity,"  or  "psycho-physical  dualism"^ 
of  function.  Both  consciousness  and  brain  are 
involved  in  the  same  so-called  conscious  adjustment. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  raise  the  question  of  which 
comes  first  or  which  causes  the  other  or  whether  they 
alternately  cause  each  other.  The  interest  is  in 
control  and  not  in  explanation — though  the  theory 
of  the  functional  unity  of  brain  and  mind,  while 
itself  a  mystery,  can  be  used  to  explain  the  other- 
wise unaccountable  progress  of  the  race,  by  develop- 
ment of  the  individual  and  by  "organic  evolution. "^ 

But  more  important  is  the  social  significance  of 
consciousness  as  a  signal  of  inner  condition.  We 
cannot  get  at  the  actual  physical  process  concerned 
in  any  particular  behavior.  But  we  can  name  and 
describe  the  conscious  process  that  is  involved. 
The  control  of  any  mental  state  functionally  involves 
the  control  of  the  correlated  brain  state.  We  can 
therefore  let  the  nervous  process  take  care  of  itself 
and  give  our  attention  to  the  conditions  leading  to 
the  control  of  the  mental  process.  We  use  the  mind 
much  as  one  would  use  a  card  index.  Consciousness, 
in  affording  the  signs  of  the  physiological  process,  is 
the  necessary  requisite  therefore  not  only  of  indi- 
vidual motivation,  but  also  of  educational  influence. 

And  so,  to  return  to  the  matter  of  feeling,  whether 

1.  Baldwin,   op.   cit.,   p.    129.  . 

2.  By  "  organic  evolution"  Baldwin  means  that  accommodations  selected 
through  the  influence  of  individual  intelligence  may  keep  a  species  afloat 
and  so  give  a  sort  of  intelligent  direction  to  evolution.  "The  intelligence 
supplements  slight  co-adaptations  and  so  gives  them  selective  utihty. 
"The  future  development  at  each  stage  of  a  species'  evolution  must  be  m 
the  direction  thus  ratified  by  intelligence."     Op.  cit.,  pp.  98-99. 


76  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

or  not  its  relation  to  conduct  can  ever  be  explained, 
its  individual,  social,  and  evolutionary  significance 
remains.  And  if  we  know  the  kind  of  thing  that 
produces  annoyance  or  satisfaction,  then  the  state 
of  mind  indicates  the  presence  of  these  conditions 
and  so  becomes  a  means  of  social  control. 

Of  course  this  social  control  cannot  be  exercised 
until  the  primeval  consciousness  has  widened  out 
to  include  sensations,  from  which  come  perceptions 
and  emotions  and,  later,  conceptions,  purposes  and 
sentiments.  Within  the  conscious  stream  these  are 
all  moving  in  the  same  direction  or  without  any 
direction.  They  come  and  go.  But  the  sensations 
and  perceptions  finally  get  associated  with  the  outer- 
inner  movement,  and  the  feelings  and  desires  and 
tendencies  with  the  inner-outer  movement;  and 
so  there  gradually  is  developed  a  line  of  division 
between  the  me  and  the  not-me  which  circumscribes 
this  central  exchange  station  of  nerve  currents. 
A  hypothetical  duplicate  of  the  world  exists  within 
me.  I  possess  an  inner  life  of  experience  correspond- 
ing to  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  outer  reality.  This 
inner  experience  I  organize  in  such  a  way  that  it 
can  be  used  to  anticipate  the  sequence  of  events  and 
include  within  itself  the  new  events.  When  this 
stage  is  reached,  the  means  are  perfected  for  ade- 
quately communicating  states  of  satisfaction  or 
annoyance,  and  for  obtaining  the  one  and  avoiding 
the  other. 


Feeling  and  Education  77 

The  Functional  View  of  Feeling  and  the  Place 
OF  Feeling  in  Education 

One  form  of  this  social  control  is  education,  by 
which  the  past  is  brought  forward  into  the  structure 
of  a  new  generation  and  so  is  carried  on  into  the 
future.  It  has  been  the  great  object  of  education 
to  teach  concepts  of  the  materials  and  methods  of 
social  activity,  to  train  the  mind  how  to  think  about 
things,  and,  with  more  and  more  emphasis,  to  learn 
how  to  do  things  and  to  gain  the  actual  ability  and 
technic  in  doing  them.  Concern  has  been  given  to 
both  the  analytic  and  the  constructive  aspects  of 
conscious  activity,  but  little  to  the  appreciation^ 
which,  after  all,  lends  significance  to  and  is  therefore 
one  large  source  of  all  other  activity. 

And  by  appreciation  I  mean  the  personal  attitude. 
It  includes  intellectual  factors  as  data,  but  its  judg- 
ments are  of  Value  and  not  of  Fact,  and  they  take 
the  form  of  assertions  rather  than  of  syllogisms. 
They  are  immediate  rather  than  mediated.  They 
concern  faith  rather  than  knowledge;  art,  rather 
than  science.  They  are  fundamental  conscious 
reactions  and  some  would  give  them  full  sway  over 
all  of  life.  But  this  seems  like  a  denial  of  educability, 
for  it  is  assumed  in  education  that  there  has  been  a 
critical  selection  of  material  according  to  social 
value,  and  social  value  is  based  on  a  judgment 
concerning  the  usefulness  of  certain  acts  or  things 
for  the  increase  of  social  control  and  social  harmony. 
The  validity  of  any  idea  is  that  it  can  be  held  by 


78  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

others.  A  statement  about  a  thing  is  a  fact  when 
others  under  the  same  conditions  can  have  an  iden- 
tifiably  similar  experience.  So  the  social  validity 
of  a  value  is  that  others  shall  appreciate  the  same 
value.  Those  which  are  the  common  possession  of 
the  controlling  administrative  forces  are  made  the 
ends  of  education.  But  these  highest  values  do  not 
seem  to  possess  the  same  universality  and  vigor  as 
do  the  facts  of  science,  and  it  is  surely  partly  because 
feeling  is  not  made  a  sufficiently  definite  object  of 
education. 

Before  turning  to  the  more  detailed  psychology 
of  feeling  and  its  application  to  education,  it  may  be 
worth  our  while  to  consider  where  we  are  to  look  for 
some  universal  criterion  of  progress,  by  which  edu- 
cation can  be  judged,  and  from  which  education  may 
derive  its  aims. 

In  the  essay  already  referred  to,  Thorndike  finds 
this  criterion  and  aim  in  the  word  Satisfaction. 
Satisfaction  is  not  only  a  means  by  which  learning 
is  facilitated,  but  it  is  the  end  of  all  learning,  the 
standard  of  all  value,  the  source  of  all  value.  Prog- 
ress is  therefore  guaranteed.  The  millennium  is  a 
necessary  product  of  human  nature.  "Just  as  the 
world  at  large,"  he  says,  "is  so  constituted  as  to 
produce  increasingly  those  aggregations  of  matter 
which  possess  life,  so  the  nervous  system  may  be 
so  constituted  as  to  produce  increasingly  those 
neural  arrangements  which  possess  satisfyingness. '* 
But  does  this  relieve  us  of  the  necessity  of  judging 
all  products  and  processes  of  nature  by  intellectual 


Feeling  and  Education  79 

standards?  Thorndike  may  be  emphasizing  over- 
much the  sphere  of  judgments  of  value.  If  there 
were  no  such  thing  as  education,  but  each  individual 
were  left  to  grow  up  of  his  own  accord,  his  satis- 
faction would  be  fer  se  the  only  motive.  But 
through  education,  satisfaction  can  be  attached  to 
many  different  kinds  of  reactions,  and  the  child  can 
be  taught  to  find  his  motives,  therefore,  in  what  will 
be  of  greatest  service  to  the  satisfaction  of  posterity. 
But  the  only  guarantee  that  he  will  be  taught  this 
and  not  something  harmful  to  society  is  that  adults 
shall  themselves  find  satisfaction  in  teaching  the 
kind  of  acts  which  satisfy  them  personally  or  the 
kind  which  they  imagine  would  bring  greater  satis- 
faction to  later  generations  than  they  themselves 
attained.  All  this  presupposes  the  superior  satis- 
fyingness  of  ideals,  the  dominating  power  over  my 
personal  life  of  my  imagination  of  the  kind  of  life 
that  would  bring  satisfaction  to  my  children.  But 
where  do  these  ideals  come  from?  Thorndike  has 
urged  that  utility  produces  nothing.  Satisfaction 
fixes  variations;  it  does  not  cause  them.  It  is 
therefore  a  conservative  and  not  a  progressive  force. 
It  is  the  source  of  desire  only  so  far  as  desire  does 
not  rise  above  experience.  It  serves  as  a  ratchet  to 
prevent  the  wheel  of  social  advance  from  slipping 
backward,  but  it  does  not  turn  it  forward.  But 
as  he  himself  says,  variations  do  occur,  both  in 
thought  and  conduct,  and  these  he  attributes  to  the 
general  constitution  of  the  Creator,  of  the  world  as 
a  whole.     The  guarantee  of  Meliorism  or  progress 


80  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

is   therefore   made   twofold:    variation,   and   modi- 
fiability  in  the  direction  of  satisfaction. 

But  in  all  this,  Satisfaction  does  not  have  much 
content.  What  is  it  that  is  satisfied  and  with  what 
is  it  satisfied.^  I  suppose  it  must  be  the  Self!  But 
if  so,  what  part  of  the  self?  Instincts,  emotions, 
intellect,  or  all  together.^  Do  we  find  our  highest, 
our  most  complete  satisfaction  in  intellectual  activity 
and  is  the  process  of  reason  or  intellectual  selection 
conducive  to  as  well  as  based  upon  satisfaction? 
If  so,  then  satisfaction  is  no  longer  a  usable  term, 
but  must  be  replaced  by  intellectual  terms  such  as 
consistency,  logical  necessity,  truth,  and  so  on.  The 
thing  will  most  satisfy  us  which  is  consistent  with 
our  philosophy  of  life,  and  this  philosophy  will 
tend  to  be  perpetuated  from  generation  to  generation 
and  modified  and  enlarged  in  the  direction  of  unity 
and  completeness.  As  the  middle  term  between  an 
outer  world  of  fact  and  an  inner  world  of  feeling,  it 
will  become  the  standard  of  educational  theory, 
because  in  it  is  found  the  dynamic  of  highest  satis- 
faction; in  it  the  purpose  of  education  is  formulated. 
All  our  institutions  and  practices  will  gradually  be 
made  to  conform  to  our  prevailing  philosophy  and 
our  prevaiHng  philosophy  will  necessarily  evolve 
into  a  universal  system  which  will  serve  as  the  source 
and  criterion  of  the  aims  of  education. 


Feeling  and  Education  81 

FEELING    AS    SATISFACTION    OR    DISSATISFACTION 

The  Functional  View  of  Feeling^ 

The  physiological  approach  will  point  out  the 
shortest  road  to  a  clear  idea  of  feeling.  The  human 
brain  is  not  born  a  tabula  rasa,  but  there  are  already 
formed  within  it  certain  connections  or  tendencies 
to  connections  between  the  presentation  of  certain 
situations  and  some  motor  response  more  or  less 
definite.  We  are  to  suppose  that  certain  neurones 
in  the  sensory  area  of  the  brain  are,  by  whatever 
theory  you  please,  connected  with  other  neurones 
in  the  motor  area,  in  such  a  way  as  to  form  a  line  of 
least  resistance  for  a  nerve  current.  Or,  to  state  it 
in  another  way,  certain  motor  neurones  are  at  birth 
more  ready  to  act,  more  unstable,  than  others,  and 
these  are  so  connected  with  sets  of  neurones  of  sen- 
sory function  that  the  action  of  the  latter  acts  as 
a  cue,  a  spark,  to  set  off  the  others.  Thus  there  are 
more  or  less  definite  bonds  between  situations  and 
acts,  as  when  the  eye  winks  at  the  approach  of 
something  thrown  through  the  air.     These  connec- 

^A  word  as  to  terms.  (1)  Pain  and  pleasure.  Although  there  may  be 
no  organs  of  pleasure,  there  probably  are  organs  of  pain,  of  the  sensation 
pain,  which  may  therefore  be  either  pleasant  or  unpleasant.  Pain  is  thus 
not  strictly  the  opposite  of  pleasure,  but  the  word  is  generally  so  used.  (2) 
The  number  or  dimension  of  affective  states.  There  is  a  variety  of  opinion 
regarding  the  number  of  feelings,  or  the  dimension  of  feeling,  as  Wundt 
calls  it.  Most  authors  subscribe  to  only  one  pair,  pleasure-pain.  Wundt, 
however,  postulates  two  others,  excitement-calm  and  tension-relief.  Titch- 
ener  regards  both  the  second  and  third  pairs  as  due  to  organic  sensations, 
but  Royce  retains  the  second,  calling  it  restlessness-quiescence.  (3)  The 
terms  satisfaction  and  dissatisfaction  as  used  by  Thorndike  do  not  seem  to 
be  exactly  the  equivalents  of  pleasure  and  displeasure,  for  pleasure  may  be 
unsatisfactory  and  pain  may  bring  comfort.  Pleasure  and  pain  are  per- 
haps descriptions  of  the  feeling  tone  of  a  particular  mental  process,  while 
the  other  terms  apply  to  the  tone  in  which  that  process  terminates.  But 
as  the  mental  process  as  a  whole  does  not  end  with  the  conclusion  of  a  par- 
ticular reaction,  the  terms  are  relative  and  overlap. 


82  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

tions  do  not  all  appear  at  once,  but  develop  in  an 
observable  series.  To  use  Thorndike's  terminology, 
they  include  such  responses  as  sensitivity;  gross 
manipulation  of  the  body;  food-getting,  including 
hunting  acts;  sex  behavior;  shelter-getting;  imme- 
diate defense,  including  fear  and  anger;  many  social 
responses,  such  as  tenderness,  gregariousness,  mas- 
tery and  submission,  emulation,  imitation,  and  so 
on;  minor  body  manipulations,  including  the  hand- 
ling of  small  objects;  vocalization;  and  learning.^ 
Certain  situations  seem  to  be  originally  satisfying  or 
annoying.  Among  the  chief  annoyers  are  pain,  grief, 
loneliness,  disapproval.  The  satisfiers  include  cer- 
tain tastes  and  motions;  approval;  knowledge  of  the 
satisfaction  of  others,  and  so  on.  But  the  successful 
and  unhindered  execution  of  any  original  response 
tends  to  be  satisfying.  Success,  however,  is  meas- 
ured in  terms  of  satisfaction,  so  that  it  is  not  enough 
to  call  satisfaction  the  state  of  successful  effort  or 
resulting  from  successful  effort.  Thorndike  finds  a 
sort  of  common  denominator  in  the  readiness  or 
unreadiness  of  neurones  to  act.  Satisfaction  as  a 
psychic  state  attends  the  action  of  ready  neurones, 
that  is,  their  reduction  to  a  more  stable  equilibrium; 
and  dissatisfaction  attends  the  prevention  of  such 
action,  or  the  forcing  of  unready  neurones  to  act. 
Now  this  readiness  of  cells  to  act  may  be  the  result 
of  the  stimulation  of  the  first  of  a  series  or  organized 
group  of  cells.  That  is,  a  complete  response  to  a 
situation  may  consist  of  a  sequence  of  acts,  as  when 

1.  Cf.  Thorndike,  Education,  Chap.  V. 


Feeling  and  Education  83 

food  getting  involves  cautious  approach,  seizing, 
tearing  and  eating.  The  presentation  of  the  situa- 
tion puts  in  readiness  the  series  of  cells  necessary  for 
the  performance  of  these  acts  in  sequence.  Now, 
if  the  cells  are  allowed  to  conduct  the  current  and 
the  body  performs  the  acts,  satisfaction  is  present; 
if  not,  there  is  dissatisfaction,  as  for  instance  when 
a  bone  is  snatched  from  the  reach  of  a  dog  when  he 
is  about  to  pounce  upon  it.  The  pain  neurones  are 
perhaps  habitually  unready  to  act;  witness  the  com- 
parative slowness  of  the  transmission  of  the  sensa- 
tion of  heat  over  that  of  touch.  We  feel  the  stove 
as  hard  before  we  feel  it  as  hot.  This  forcing  of 
the  unready  neurones  is  painful.  Or  again,  com- 
pelling ourselves  to  exercise  when  fatigued  may  be 
disagreeable. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  same  principle  applies 
also  to  connections  which  are  learned.  And  here 
it  may  be  well  to  recall  how  new  connections  are 
learned,  how  new  ways  of  doing  things  are  acquired. 
The  factors  involved  are,  the  tendency  to  make 
various  responses;  exercise;  and  feeling.  The  spe- 
cific movements  are  not  thought  through  before- 
hand, but  are  selected  from  a  variety  of  experimental 
responses.  This  variety  is  supplied  in  many  ways: 
from  the  original  tendency  to  respond  in  several 
ways  to  the  same  situation;  from  the  instinct  of 
general  manipulation;  from  habit;  and  from  the 
capacity  to  respond  to  different  elements  in  the 
situation.  A  situation  may  be  a  complicated  one  and 
start  going  several  responses  which  may  conflict  with 


84  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

one  another.  For  example,  suppose  a  large  man 
suddenly  accosting  a  child.  His  size  and  attack  at 
once  tend  to  make  the  child  afraid.  But  the  situa- 
tion is  partial,  for  instead  of  a  fierce  frown  and  threat- 
ening gestures  there  is  a  friendly  smile  and  a  kind 
word.  The  response  is  therefore  altered  to  one  of 
submissiveness  or  play.  In  these  ways  an  enormous 
variety  of  adaptations  is  given  from  which  to  select. 
The  selective  factors  are  Use  and  Feeling.  The 
actual  passage  of  the  nerve  current  along  certain 
channels  or  by  way  of  certain  neurones  makes  it 
easier  for  it  to  go  that  way  again.  And  success  in 
the  outcome  has  a  similar  effect.  The  successful  act 
leaves  its  traces  as  any  act  would.  But  the  success- 
ful culmination  of  the  act  is  accompanied  by  an 
organic  satisfaction  or  subconscious  satisfaction 
which  inhibits  further  experimenting.  The  success- 
ful traces  are  thus  not  obliterated  by  the  effects  of 
further  random  reactions.^  Opportunity  is  given 
for  the  fixation  of  the  right  connection.  This 
organic  satisfaction  is  accompanied  by  heightened 
tonicity,  which  is  favorable  to  the  rapid  organiza- 
tion of  the  neurones.  The  conscious  pleasure  reacts 
again  as  a  conative  tendency  like  the  act  that  brought 
success.  The  neurones  are  incipiently  if  not  com- 
pletely excited  just  as  they  were  before,  and  this 
tends  to  deepen  the  connection.  This  effect  of  the 
resulting  satisfaction  Thorndike  regards  as  the  most 
influential  factor  in  the  selection  and  fixation  of 
learned  connections. 

1.  Cf.  Swift,  E.  J.,  Mind  in  the  Making,  pp.  213-216. 


Feeling  and  Education  85 

What,  then,  is  the  dynamic  relation  of  feeling  to 
experience?  Where,  as  we  asked  above,  does  it 
come  in  in  the  nerve  cycle  from  objective  to  objec- 
tive? As  a  matter  of  fact,  all  we  can  measure  is 
action,  and  what  goes  on  between  the  presentation 
and  the  act  is  for  the  most  part  speculative  interpre- 
tation of  introspection.  The  central  processes 
constitute  a  sort  of  reservoir  into  which  the  nerve 
system  pumps  sensations  and  out  of  which  it  pumps 
acts.  Just  what  goes  on  in  the  turmoil  of  the  muddy 
cistern  is  uncertain.  The  water  is  always  stirred 
up,  for  the  pumps  never  cease  till  death.  Perhaps 
then  we  shall  know.  Meanwhile,  just  as  the  fisher- 
man looks  down  into  the  water  through  his  glass- 
bottomed  bucket,  so  we  gaze  as  through  a  glass 
darkly  into  the  mystery  of  our  own  minds — and 
sometimes  we  imagine  we  see  strange,  primordial 
creatures  swimming  about  in  the  shadows.  What 
we  cannot  see  we  call  the  subliminal,  the  subcon- 
scious. There  belong  the  weird  race-memories,  the 
record  of  the  travail  of  creation,  which  were  better 
forgotten  than  called  out  of  the  dark  past  to  be 
given  the  reverence  that  belongs  not  to  mystery  but 
to  divinity,  to  the  God  of  the  hving  and  not  the 
God  of  the  dead. 

The  simple  fact  is  we  live,  and  our  life  consists  in 
acting,  thinking  and  feeling  in  the  midst  of  our 
environment.  How  we  act  depends  on  many  things: 
on  all  the  complex  influences  of  the  situation;  on 
the  way  we  have  acted  before  to  the  elements  of  this 
situation;    on  the  thoughts  which  are  suggested  as 


86  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

part  of  the  response  to  the  situation,  and  which  by 
their  presence  alter  its  meaning  to  us  and  so  make 
of  it  a  continually  changing  situation;  and  by  the 
feelings  which  these  thoughts  have  accompanied  and 
which  have  turned  the  balance  of  past  action  this 
way  or  that,  and  so  made  possible  the  present  possi- 
bilities of  action — which  consist  of  all  the  tenden- 
cies that  have  survived  from  the  sifting  process  of 
experience. 

As  Royce^  puts  it,  we  cannot  will  a  novel  course 
of  action,  but  only  an  act  done  before.  Consequences 
may  be  foreseen  as  novel,  but  choice  is  unoriginal. 
Familiar  means  must  be  found.  Before  we  possess 
a  will  we  must  act  by  original  tendency.  These 
acts  we  notice  and  select  from,  that  is,  will.  Invol- 
untary acts,  unwilled  acts,  depend  for  their  selection 
on  feeling,  which  is  thus  a  more  primitive  and  less 
accurate  means  of  adjustment.  Its  categories  of 
choice  are  only  two,  or  at  most  six,  whereas  the 
intellectual  meanings  are  infinite.  Feeling  has  the 
advantage  in  selecting  organic  adjustments  too  subtle 
to  appear  in  consciousness  as  ideas,  or  too  gross  to 
demand  fine  analysis.  Ideas,  being  biologically 
more  recent,  have  not  mastered  all  the  intricacies  of 
organic  function,  and  indeed  are  rendered  more 
free  by  this  activity  of  feeling.  And  now  that 
neural  excitements  are  accompanied  by  ideas,  feeling 
is  not  dropped  out,  but  features  also  in  the  associa- 
tion of  the  ideational  neurones  (if  there  be  such). 
Intellect  and  feeling  go  hand  in  hand  in  selecting 

1.  Outlines  of  Psychology,  p.  369. 


Feeling  and  Education  87 

forms  of  activity  for  survival.  Sensation  is  given, 
and  out  of  it  is  built  the  reproduction  of  experience 
in  images  and  concepts.  These  are  not  bound  to 
sensations,  but  may  be  associated  in  innumerable 
ways,  guided  by  use  and  by  feeling.  The  ideas 
transcend  empirical  experience  by  offering  a  variety 
of  possible  courses  of  action,  which  function  as  actual 
situations  calling  for  responses.  Feeling  is  conserva- 
tive and  empirical  and  among  possibilities  of  action 
chooses  not  what  is  likely  a  priori  to  give  satisfaction, 
but  what  has  given  satisfaction  in  the  past. 

Without  feeling  the  stengthening  of  association 
between  thoughts  and  acts  and  among  thoughts 
would  be  limited  to  the  effects  of  mere  repetition. 
One  association  would  be  as  strong  as  another  equally 
used,  no  matter  how  erroneous  it  had  proved  to  be. 
There  would  be  no  true  economy  of  action  through 
the  registering  of  success  in  satisfaction  and  the 
resulting  strengthening  of  successful  connections. 
The  past  could  not  be  brought  to  function  efficiently 
in  the  present.  Again,  if  there  were  only  feeling 
and  no  ideas,  reactions  would  be  only  to  objective 
situations,  and  to  these  only  in  wholes.  There 
would  be  no  organization  of  experience  in  terms  of 
purpose  or  ideal,  no  intellectual  anticipation  of 
experience,  no  selection  of  the  essential  aspect  out 
of  a  whole  situation,  or  recombining  of  the  elements 
of  experience  into  a  tool  for  dealing  with  the  novel 
and  strange.  But  even  so,  the  physiological  condi- 
tions of  feeling  as  a  conscious  state  may  be  of 
wider  range  and  involve  a  larger  number  of  neurones 


88  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

than  those  concerned  with  ideas,  so  that  the  range 
of  environment  subject  to  the  Hmited  adjustments 
of  feeHng  may  be  greater  than  that  reached  by  the 
more  complex  adjustments  of  intellect. 

Intellect  has  not  superseded  feeling  nor  is  feeling 
a  higher  faculty  than  intellect.  They  cooperate  in 
any  conscious  adjustment  to  physical  environment 
and  in  all  adjustments  to  things  of  the  spirit.  Will 
implies  such  a  successful  combination  of  feeling  and 
thought  elements  as  will  function  in  controlling 
action,  or  more  directly  in  controlling  attention.^ 
Feeling  is  operative  in  helping  to  determine  what 
sensations  or  ideas  shall  continue  in  the  field  or  focus 
of  consciousness,  although  it  is  itself  not  the  object 
of  attention.  Deliberate  action  is  impossible  with- 
out both  feeling  and  intellect,  the  one  to  draw,  the 
other  to  color  the  pictured  act.  The  feeling  of 
effort  is  present  when,  instead  of  taking  the  course 
made  ready  in  the  neurones  by  the  immediate 
situation,  a  more  roundabout  course  is  pursued,  made 
ready  by  the  presence,  in  the  mind,  of  an  ideal  acting 
as  a  telescope  to  make  as  though  present  a  remote 
situation.  When  the  act  follows  the  latter  course 
we  call  it  willed  action,  or  deliberate  action.  The 
degree  of  effort  will  correspond  to  the  readiness  of 
the  one  set  of  neurones  as  compared  with  that  of  the 
other. 

Judd^  describes  another  selective  aspect  of  feeling. 

1.  On  feeling  and  attention  of.  also  Titchener,  Psychology  of  Feeling 
and  Attention,  pp.  298-303;  Judd,  Journ.  Philos.  Psych.  Sci.  Meth.,  Vol.  V, 
p.  676,  and  also  Psychology,  p.  66;  Stout,  Groundwork  of  Psychology, 
Chap.  III. 

2.  Psychology,  p.  362. 


Feeling  and  Education  89 

Whatever  runs  against  the  organization  of  the  indi- 
vidual is  disagreeable  and  vice  versa.  But  agree- 
ment is  not  necessarily  in  consciousness  as  idea; 
it  may  be  present  as  feeling.  Feeling  becomes 
therefore  spontaneous  adjustment.  It  is  allied  here 
with  intuition  or  the  immediate  form  of  the  recogni- 
tion of  incongruity.  It  is  thus  seen  that  feeling 
does  not  give  us  any  new  concepts.  It  is  simply  a 
signal  of  adjustment,  and  does  not  say  how  to  change. 
It  is  the  gong  in  the  engine  room  which  calls  the 
engineer's  attention  to  the  signal  board,  the  indica- 
tions of  which  are  dictated,  not  by  feeling,  but  by 
sensation.  We  attend  to  the  reports  of  sensation 
because  of  the  feeling  which  the  outflowing  current 
let  loose  by  the  sensations  has  aroused  in  us. 

We  may  sum  up  the  functional  view  of  feeling  by 
saying  that  it  belongs  with  the  outgoing  aspect  of 
experience.  It  is  a  part  of  the  individual's  reaction 
to  his  mental  and  physical  situation.  It  is  primarily 
related  to  the  complex  subjective  organizations  or 
reactions  of  the  individual  upon  his  environment  as 
it  is  made  known  to  him  through  sensations.  The 
**feeling"  of  the  organism  is  the  *' attitude"  it  takes 
toward  the  situations  within  which  it  is  placed.^ 
Feeling  and  Mental  Efficiency 

The  importance  of  feeling  in  mental  efficiency  can 
hardly  be  overestimated.  The  readiness  of  many 
neurones  to  act,  which  is  the  source  of  fertility  of 

1.  Judd,  article  cited  above.  For  a  most  able  discussion  of  Feelingj^see 
Hocking,  Meaning  of  God  in  Human  Experience,  Part  II,  "Religious  Feel- 
ing and  Religious  Theory." 


90  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

mind,  may  also  be  a  cause  of  lesser  buoyancy  of 
spirit;  for  not  all  neurones  can  act,  and  some,  there- 
fore, must  contribute  their  quota  of  dissatisfaction 
to  the  whole  state.  Rapidity  and  success  in  associa- 
tion of  ideas,  sought  for  the  purpose  of  solving  some 
problem,  certainly  are  attended  by  and  enhanced  by 
pleasure,  because  of  the  action  of  ready  neurones  to 
a  terminus.  Vain  groping  or  unsuccessful  brain 
action,  and  the  continued  thwarting  of  decision  by 
the  inhibiting  influence  of  many  conflicting  ideas, 
the  suspended  judgment  (which  means  untermi- 
nated  action) — all  these  tend  to  be  unpleasant.  This, 
in  part,  accounts  for  the  contrast  in  disposition 
between  the  man  of  thought  and  the  man  of  action, 
the  reflective  and  the  impulsive  types.  The  former 
is  likely  to  be  somewhat  depressed  and  the  latter  to 
be  of  more  happy  frame  of  mind.  There  is  room  here 
also  for  the  feelings  of  tension  and  relief,  excitement 
and  calm.  A  feeling  of  relief  and  calm  may  accom- 
pany the  successful  termination  of  an  act  and  the 
resulting  rest  of  the  neurones;  whereas  tension  and 
excitement  go  with  the  continual  shooting  of  currents 
in  all  directions,  following  first  one  ready  circuit  and 
then  another,  and  finding  no  successful  outlet. 
Excitement  may  go  with  pleasure,  because  pleasure 
itself  tends  to  further  action,  and  there  is  a  desire 
for  more  and  more,  and  a  search  for  means  to  attain 
it.  This  is  usually  the  situation  when  an  anticipated 
pleasure  is  presented  to  the  mind.  Satisfaction  is 
present,  but  excitement  is  more  conspicuous  in 
consciousness,  because  of  the  advance  stimulation 


Feeling  and  Education  91 

of  neurones  which  are  prevented  temporarily  from 
acting.  This  is  the  state  of  desire.  The  fulfilHng 
of  desire  is  accompanied  by  satisfaction  and  rehef 
and  calm.  The  neurones  have  been  reduced  from 
instability  to  a  condition  of  comparative  equilibrium. 

It  may  be,  therefore,  that  much  of  the  blueness 
and  ineffectiveness  of  those  who  deal  with  ideas 
critically  (which  means  a  postponement  of  their 
issue  in  some  success  or  satisfaction)  is  due,  not  only 
to  fatigue  products,  but  also  to  that  quality  of  the 
brain  which  requires  for  its  tonicity  the  productive 
activity  of  trains  of  neurones  once  incipiently  stimu- 
lated. Thought  militates  against  itself  unless  it 
"  arrives.  '*  This  is  recognized  in  the  learning  process 
where  care  is  taken  to  insure  successful  effort  as  a 
condition  for  progress. 

The  difficulty  of  the  situation  can  be  overcome  in 
many  ways.  It  is  not  a  situation  which  can  be 
removed,  as  it  is  inherent  in  the  critical  activity  of 
the  mind.  But  its  bad  effects  can  be  more  or  less 
overcome  by  the  functioning  of  mood.  If  successful 
activity  is  postponed  in  one  direction,  it  can  be 
encouraged  in  another,  and  the  resulting  pleasure 
will  function  in  raising  the  neural  tone  and  in  restor- 
ing spice  and  vigor  to  the  whole  conscious  process. 
Thus  we  have  a  substitute  for  the  immediate  solution 
of  problems  as  a  condition  for  healthy  progress. 
This  result  can  be  attained  by  either  physical  or 
mental  means.  The  physical  have  an  advantage  in 
involving  also  factors  of  circulation  and  elimination. 
The  mental  assist  by  providing  for  the  activity  of 


92  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

more  nearly  related  neurones,  or  even  of  the  same 
neurones.  The  writing  of  papers  corresponds  to 
tasks  done  and  carries  with  it  the  feeling  of  com- 
pletion, even  while  the  investigation  of  the  problem 
is  progressing.  It  serves  incidentally  to  organize 
the  material  in  hand  and  to  render  it  more  serviceable 
— but  that  contributes  to  the  feeling  of  satisfaction 
even  in  the  presence  of  actual  incompleteness,  and 
stirs  on  the  mind  to  continue  its  attack.  Tests 
accomplish  the  same  thing  if  they  are  not  so  hard 
as  to  cause  discouragement .  All  learning  may  include 
periods  of  confusion  and  retardation  during  which 
the  material  is  being  digested  and  organized,  and 
which,  therefore,  are  blue  periods.  The  bad  effect 
of  the  mood  can  be  counteracted  by  some  form  of 
successful  activity,  without  interfering  with  the 
process  of  organization,  and  in  this  way  the  general 
working  efficiency  will  not  be  lowered,  and  time  will 
not  be  unnecessarily  lost. 

This  aspect  of  feeling  is  thus  seen  to  be  related  to 
educational  theory  in  at  least  three  respects:  (1) 
In  the  learning  process,  in  which  it  is  used  directly  or 
in  association  to  strengthen  desirable  and  weaken 
undesirable  connections.  (2)  In  the  control  of 
attention  in  the  mapping  out  and  pursuance  of 
future  courses  of  action,  in  which  it  is  vital  that 
socially  valuable  acts  and  objects  should  be  those 
which  are  desired  and  consciously  striven  for.  (3) 
In  the  attainment  of  the  highest  mental  efficiency. 


Feeling  and  Education  93 

EMOTION 

Emotion  has  been  called  the  conscious  correlate 
of  instinct.  But,  as  Pillsbury^  puts  it,  emotion  is 
limited  to  responses  ending  in  the  body.  Angell,^ 
too,  accepts  the  James-Lange  theory  to  this  extent 
and  regards  emotions  as  due  to  intra-organic  reac- 
tions. Stout, ^  however,  holds  that  the  distinguish- 
ing characteristics  of  each  emotion  are  located  in 
the  primary  nervous  excitement,  and  uses  James' 
arguments  against  James  to  show  that  emotions  are 
not  fundamentally  sensations,  but  points  of  view, 
attitudes  toward  objects.  He  does  admit,  though, 
that  the  situation  causes  a  neural  disturbance,  and  so 
allows  sensational  concomitants  to  enter  in.  He 
places  emotion  primarily  in  the  category  of  feeling 
as  Miss  Calkins^  and  Judd^  do. 

Among  original  tendencies  are  those  which  involve, 
as  a  part  of  their  reactions,  certain  organic  changes 
and  inner  muscular  contractions  in  addition  to  those 
of  external  adjustment.  Of  the  usefulness  of  these 
inner  movements  there  is  some  question,  although 
in  part  they  are  probably  vestiges  of  originally  use- 
ful acts.^  At  the  present  stage  of  evolution  they 
seem  at  times  to  be  per  se  physically  useless  or  harm- 
ful, or  available  socially  as  signs  of  feeling;  mentally 
they  add  their  sensational  content  to  the  richness  of 

1.  Pillsbury,  Essentials  of  Psychology,  p.  272  ff. 

2.  Psychology,  pp.  370  and  381. 

3.  Groundwork  of  Psychology,  Chap.  XV. 

4.  An  Introduction  to  Psychology,  p.  263. 

5.  Psychology,  p.  298.  ,     ,  „      r  7     •    7  d     • 

6.  Cf.  Dewey,  "  Theory  of  Emotions "  cited  above,  Psychological  Review 
Nov.  1894,  p.  553. 


94  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

consciousness.  It  is  claimed  by  some  that  these  or- 
ganic changes  would  not  occur  if  some  one  response 
to  the  emotional  situation  were  allowed  to  take  place. 
But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  a  great  conflict 
among  tendencies  to  reaction,  due  to  the  plasticity 
of  original  nature,  but  mostly  to  the  influence  of 
habit  and  changed  conditions  of  life.  Consequently 
the  nervous  discharge  that  might  have  been  used  up 
in  some  useful  response  is  drained  off  in  the  more  au- 
tomatic channels  of  the  circulatory  or  digestive  sys- 
tems, or  into  the  more  involuntary  circuits  of  facial 
expression,  blushing  and  so  on.  The  actual  con- 
scious state  is  a  strange  complex  of  acute  feeling,  of 
definite  attitude  toward  the  situation,  modified  or 
enriched  by  all  kinds  of  organic  sensations,  which, 
with  the  actual  consciousness  of  the  provoking  situa- 
tion, give  to  the  emotion  its  specific  character. 

Emotion  is  thus  a  phase  of  maladjustment,  and 
occurs  when  the  individual  is  wavering  between  dif- 
ferent courses  of  action.  The  situation  is  usually 
one  which  presents  itself  suddenly,  or  with  intense 
contrasts,  and  this  makes  the  immediate  adjustment 
difficult.  *' Emotion  is  a  complex  state  of  conscious- 
ness of  high  affective  coloring,  involving  an  intellec- 
tual and  a  will  attitude,  appearing  under  sudden 
stress  in  a  rapidly  developing  situation,  either  actu- 
ally present  or  ideally  represented,  to  which  situa- 
tion adequate  adjustment  is  temporarily  blocked. 
This  whole  state  is  accompanied  by  bodily  sensa- 
tions of  great  intensity."  From  this  point  of  view 
emotion  at  first  sight  seems  harmful,  for  all  mal- 


Feeling  and  Education  95 

adjustment  is  undesirable.  Emotion  seems  to  pre- 
vent adjustment  by  confusing  the  individual.  And 
considered  all  by  itself,  the  emotional  experience  is 
bad.  Whatever  value  it  possesses  must  be  looked 
for  either  in  the  effect  of  its  expression  on  other  in- 
dividuals, or  in  the  result  within  the  subject  himself. 
For  example,  furious  anger  may  have  been  very 
useful  in  intimidating  a  foe.  But  the  effect  on  the 
individual  is  temporarily  to  wipe  out  old  habits  or 
ways  of  reacting,  and  so  make  room  for  new  modes 
of  adjustment.  Old  paths  are  blocked  and  new  ones 
opened  up.  Old  ideas  are  cast  out  and  opportunity 
is  given  for  acquiring  new  points  of  view.  In  re- 
ligious conversion,  for  example,  it  often  happens  that 
old  habits  cannot  be  conquered  without  some  such 
upheaval  and  confusion  being  passed  through.  The 
reprobate  must  be  plunged  into  fear  and  doubt  and 
despair  before  he  can  be  led  to  adopt  a  new  attitude 
and  rise  above  his  old  habits.  So  the  waste  of  energy 
in  the  intense  emotional  experience  is  justified  when 
the  higher  levels  of  conduct  and  attitude  can  be 
reached  only  in  this  way. 

When  an  emotion  is  gone,  a  residue  or  mood  is 
often  left  which  tends  to  vanish  as  the  adjustment 
reached  becomes  more  and  more  habitual.  To  keep 
up  the  mood,  the  emotional  experience  must  occa- 
sionally be  revived.  This  can  often  be  done  by  a 
mild  repetition  of  the  emotion,  in  which  the  affective 
and  intellectual  elements  are  clear  cut,  and  in  which 
the  loss  of  balance  is  not  noticeable.^ 

1.  This  paragraph  with  the  one  preceding  summarizes  the  view  of  Col- 
vin,  in  an  unpublished  lecture.     Cf .  Human  Behavior,  by  the  same  author. 


96  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

Indeed  it  is  in  this  milder  sense  that  the  word 
emotion  is  usually  used,  and  it  is  in  this  milder  form 
that  we  have  most  to  do  with  it  in  education.  But 
now  and  then  it  may  be  worth  while  to  go  the  whole 
way  and  freshen  up  the  life  adjustment  from  the 
very  roots. 

The  general  effect  of  an  extreme  emotional  expe- 
rience is  exhausting.  But  a  mild  emotion,  because 
of  its  affective  element,  may  leave  either  a  restful 
or  stimulating  effect  on  the  one  hand,  or  else  a  fa- 
tiguing and  depressing  effect  on  the  other.  Emo- 
tions are  sufficiently  differentiated  in  these  respects 
to  allow  of  a  general  classification.  On  the  one  side 
are  physically  helpful  and  socially  useful,  and  on  the 
other,  physically  harmful  and  socially  injurious.  Any 
emotional  reaction  may  be  more  fatiguing  than  one 
which  is  calm,  but  it  may  carry  with  it  advantages 
which  outweigh  the  fatigue.  Others  may  be  exhila- 
rating for  the  moment,  but  may  result  in  exhaustion. 
But  on  the  whole  we  can  put  on  the  socially  or  indi- 
vidually helpful  side  the  emotions  of  joy,  courage, 
love,  sympathy,  tenderness,  reverence,  trust.  What- 
ever their  physical  correlates,  these  emotions  add 
vastly  to  the  satisfaction  of  life,  increase  its  efficiency, 
and  render  social  relations  in  which  they  arise  and 
to  which  they  tend  not  only  tolerable  but  delightful. 
They  are  the  sine  qua  non  of  social  cooperation  and 
physical  health.  On  the  harmful  side  are,  in  general, 
anger,  hate,  fear,  grief,  greed,  scorn  and  so  on.  These 
exhaust  the  energy,  often  without  offering  any  return. 
They  sap  the  life,  not  only  of  the  individual  subject. 


Feeling  and  Education  97 

but  of  those  who  chance  to  be  the  unfortunate  ob- 
jects. They  poison  the  body  and  the  social  group, 
and  mihtate  against  all  efficiency.  The  need  is  evi- 
dent therefore  of  cultivating  the  former  or  more  social 
type  of  emotions,  and  of  discouraging  or  guiding  the 
latter. 

The  recognition  of  the  difference  in  the  social 
value  of  emotions  led  the  defenders  of  the  rightness 
of  original  nature  to  claim  for  certain  undesirable 
tendencies  one  or  all  of  three  functions. 

1.  The  undesirable  tendency  may  be  a  prerequisite  of  the 
desirable,  acting  as  a  stimulus  to  the  next  higher  power.  Hence 
all  latent  responses  should  be  developed. 

2.  A  bad  tendency  may  be  desirable  as  a  necessary  correlate 
of  a  good  tendency;  for  example,  anger  and  righteous  indigna- 
tion; jealousy  and  love;  fighting  or  hate  and  honor, 

3.  The  exercise  of  an  undesirable  tendency  is  useful  if  its  early 
satisfaction  leads  to  inoculation  or  protection  from  the  same  ten- 
dency in  the  future.  Stimulus  and  exercise  atrophy  the  tendency 
and  allow  it  to  give  place  to  the  next  higher  power.i 

This  theory  of  Catharsis  is  extended  by  G.  Stan- 
ley Hall  to  include  the  imaginative  experience  of 
evil  in  reading,  and  so  on,  as  a  prophylactic  measure, 
analogous  to  vaccination. 

However  true  the  first  two  claims  may  be,  the  last, 
as  Thorndike  has  pointed  out,  is  seen  to  be  quite 
contrary  to  the  law  of  exercise  and  habit,  and  to 
need  more  proof  before  it  can  be  accepted  even  as 
an  hypothesis.  But  the  genetic,  or  correlative  neces- 
sity for  the  exercise  of  a  tendency  does  not  preclude 

1.  Cited  by  Thorndike  in  an  unpublished  lecture  on  Educational  Psy- 
chology. 

7 


98  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

the  direction  of  it  to  socially  desirable  objects,  and 
the  gradual  substitution  of  other  more  helpful  re- 
sponses. And  it  is  hard  to  be  convinced  that  there 
is  as  much  need  for  hate  in  the  world  as  there  is 
for  affection,  or  that  affection  is  impossible  without 
hate. 

The  question  is  a  complicated  one  as  is  shown  by 
the  work  of  Shand  in  the  analysis  of  emotional  de- 
velopment.   One  or  two  examples  will  suffice. 

Sorrow  as  a  primary  emotion  is  made  essential  to  the  more 
complicated  emotion  of  pity,  which  when  thwarted  in  its  helpful 
endeavor  becomes  despondency  or  despair.  Tenderness  comes 
from  the  interaction  of  joy  and  sorrow.  Gratitude  is  tender  joy. 
It  involves  not  only  joy  in  the  benefaction,  but  also  a  touch 
of  sorrow  for  the  implied  sacrifice  of  the  benefactor.  Again, 
reverence  is  a  complicated  emotion  involving  awe  and  tender- 
ness. Tenderness  we  have  already  seen  to  be  joy  and  sorrow 
mixed.  Awe  is  admiration  plus  fear.  Admiration  is  wonder 
plus  submissiveness.i 

So  we  have  the  primary  emotions  of  wonder  and 
fear,  joy  and  sorrow,  in  a  strange  mixture  of  good 
and  bad  to  make  the  valued  state  called  reverence. 
This  illustrates  the  complication.  Fear  on  the  whole 
we  would  discard,  yet  if  it  is  a  necessary  concomi- 
tant of  reverence,  a  sweeping  expurgation  of  human 
nature  that  would  altogether  eliminate  fear,  would 
be  dangerous.  The  secret  of  the  solution  is  surely 
in  the  connection  of  the  emotions  with  the  right 
sort  of  situations. 

Thorndike  discusses  briefly  the  various  ways  of 

1.  In  Stout,  Groundwork  of  Psychology,  Chap.  XVI. 


Feeling  and  Education  99 

training  the  emotions  in  his  "Principles  of  Teach- 
ing."^    Quoting  in  part : 

"To  arouse  a  given  emotion  in  connection  with  a  given  situa- 
tion we  may  use  one  of  three  methods. 

1.  Ideas  that  have  in  the  past  been  connected  with  the  emotion 
may  be  aroused.     .     .     . 

2.  The  emotion  may  be  communicated  through  imitation." 
For  example,  through  suggestion  from  facial  and  vocal  expressions 
and  so  on. 

3.  "The  bodily  response  characteristic  of  the  emotion  may  be 
aroused."  For  example,  courageous  conduct  assists  the  feeling 
of  courage. 

One  might  add,  the  habit  of  the  analysis  and  the 
right  naming  of  the  situation  and  the  association  of 
the  new  name  with  all  similar  situations.^  That  is, 
a  situation  calling  for  an  angry  response  is  to  be  ap- 
perceived  as  one  calling  for  a  loving  or  humorous 
response.  The  too-familiar  jibe  is  called  a  joke  in- 
stead of  an  insult,  with  the  response  of  a  laugh  in- 
stead of  an  angry  retort. 

The  importance  of  mood  is  obvious.  A  mood,  as 
has  been  said,  is  the  residue  of  an  emotion,  or  a  ten- 
dency to  react  in  the  same  emotional  way  to  any 
situation.  Joy  and  grief  are  the  most  persistent 
types,  no  doubt  because  of  their  corresponding  ef- 
fects on  the  whole  nervous  system.  The  emotion 
experienced  tends  to  repeat  itself  by  prejudging  all 
situations  and  favoring  like  responses  to  all.     This 

1.  p.  199. 

2.  Thorn  dike  himself  mentions  this  feature  of  the  naming  of  a  situation 
in  his  chapter  on  the  training  of  conduct,  but  does  not  suggest  it  as  a  method 
in  the  training  of  emotion. 


100  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

is  due  to  the  readiness  of  neurones  to  act.  They  are 
very  unready  to  act  when  the  state  is  one  of  grief. 
The  rupture  of  so  many  connections  involves,  also, 
the  failure  of  many  ready  tracts,  with  a  resulting 
depression  and  low^ered  tonicity  which  results  in  the 
deadening  of  the  whole  system.  Joy,  on  the  con- 
trary, lends  the  color  of  success  to  all  endeavor,  and 
therefore  is  a  mood  to  be  cultivated.  Fear  inhibits, 
except  so  far  as  its  response  includes  the  usual  run- 
ning, hiding,  fighting,  and  so  on.  It  is  an  unsocial 
state  of  mind  and  is  associated  with  destructive 
events  and  acts.  Appearing  as  anxiety  when  the 
situation  is  remote,  it  functions  to  center  the  interest 
of  life  in  the  preservation  of  self,  and  thus  to  restrict 
the  field  of  mental  action.  This  may  not  be  true 
of  anxiety  for  others,  which  is  social  in  its  direc- 
tion, although  involving  inhibiting  influence  such  as 
worry.  When  thus  directed  it  is  more  truly  allied 
to  the  tender  or  altruistic  emotion  than  to  fear. 

To  inculcate  or  encourage  the  expansive,  stimu- 
lating and  restful  ways  of  emotional  response  and  to 
eliminate  so  far  as  possible  the  depressing,  exhaust- 
ing emotional  moods  is  therefore  an  important  part 
of  the  task  of  education. 

SENTIMENT  1 

Sentiment  is  a  much  abused  word.  Psychologists 
have  not  given  much  attention  to  it.  Judd  calls  it 
feeling  related  to  so-called  higher  concepts.     Some 

1.  Cf.   Shand,   "Character  and  the  Emotions,"   Mind,    N.S.,  Vol.   V, 
1896,  pp.  217-224. 


Feeling  and  Education  101 

use  it  as  a  name  for  a  sort  of  refined  emotion.  Oth- 
ers limit  it  to  those  emotions  connected  with  art  and 
religion.  Stout^  calls  it  interest  in  an  object  for  its 
own  sake  regardless  of  its  advantage  to  us.  Such 
interests  rise  out  of  the  use  of  the  object  as  a  means 
to  some  satisfaction  and  are  an  instance  of  the  trans- 
formation of  means  into  end.  They  develop  out 
of  feeling,  emotion  and  conation,  and  become  the 
source  of  such  activity.  He  describes  them  as  con- 
crete or  abstract.  The  concrete  sentiments  are  for  in- 
dividuals or  a  group  of  individuals — ^Home,  School, 
Country,  etc.  The  abstract  are  for  general  features 
of  concrete  experience  such  as  power,  fame,  justice, 
truth,  etc.  These  may  be  selfish,  as  in  pride,  vanity, 
love  of  fame;  or  unselfish,  as  in  devotion,  economy, 
order,  neatness,  sincerity,  hate  of  wrong.  There  is  a 
tendency  to  personify  the  abstract  sentiments  as  in 
Freedom,  Duty,  Truth,  and  the  like. 

As  another  writer  has  put  it,  sentiment  is  an  esti- 
mate or  feeling  of  value  which  results  from  choice  or 
investment.  For  example,  a  man  chooses  a  political 
party;  he  invests  his  interests  in  that  party.  He 
chooses  a  profession  and  the  decision  means  an 
investment  in  the  object.  The  resulting  feeling 
of  ownership  which  controls  his  thinking  is  called 
sentiment.  It  is  sometimes  called  the  Heart.  It 
cannot  be  changed  'per  se  but  can  only  follow  the 
investment.  It  is  a  gradual  growth,  implying  the 
accumulation  of  habits  which  are  congenial  to  it. 
Sentiment  does  not  depend  on  the  intrinsic  value  of 

1.  Op.  cit..  Chap.  XVII,  p.  224  ff. 


102  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

the  object.  Compare  class-feeling.  It  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  character  of  the  members,  but  de- 
pends primarily  on  the  fact  that  it  is  your  class  and 
you  have  invested  all  your  college  interests  with  it. 
A  man  can  be  a  staunch  member  of  a  national  party 
in  spite  of  political  machines. 

And  best  of  all  illustrations  is  the  domestic  senti- 
ment. It  takes  more  than  affinity,  whether  of  cul- 
tural interests  or  physique,  or  love  or  educational 
congeniality,  to  hold  a  family  together.  The  strength 
of  the  domestic  relation  depends  upon  the  domestic 
sentiment  and  that  is  in  direct  proportion  to  the 
investment  made.  If  it  is  a  ten-year  experiment 
the  chances  are  that  it  will  not  last  as  long  as  that. 
If  it  is  for  life,  the  sentiment  resulting  from  the 
investment  will  tide  over  the  many  inevitable  dis- 
agreements and  bind  together  the  seemingly  in- 
compatible. Our  supreme  choices  determine  our 
sentiments,  and  once  created,  our  highest  sentiments 
control  our  minor  choices  automatically.^ 

In  another  place^  the  same  author  speaks  of  sen- 
timents as  the  acquired  interests  in  contrast  with 
the  native  interests.  They  result  from  identifying 
oneself  with  a  cause  so  that  all  interest  in  the  self  is 
transferred  to  the  cause.    The  cause  owns  the  man.^ 

With  all  the  other  feelings  sentiment  is  thus  seen 
to  belong  to  the  volitional  or  active  direction  of  con- 
sciousness. It  is  an  attitude  which  accompanies  and 
grows  out  of  the  conscious  direction  of  activity  in 

1.  Garman,  C.  E.,  Letters,  Lectures  and  Addresses,  Memorial  Volume, 
p.  265  flf.     2.  Op  cit.,  p.  401  ff. 

3.  Cf.  the  analysis  of  loyalty  in  Chap.  IV  of  this  book. 


Feeling  and  Education  103 

accordance  with  some  purpose  or  ideal.  It  is  a  kind 
of  anticipated  satisfaction  which  attaches  itself  to 
all  kinds  of  acts,  whether  painful  or  not,  because  of 
their  relation  as  means  to  the  end  desired.  By  it 
therefore  the  disagreeable  drudgery  of  life  can  be 
largely  transfigured  and  made  to  glow  with  the  white 
heat  of  enthusiastic  devotion  to  a  noble  cause.  This 
means  an  enormous  accession  of  power  through  the 
stimulating  as  well  as  restful  effect  of  completely 
satisfactory  living. 

The  cultivation  of  sentiment,  then,  as  the  enthu- 
siastic devotion  to  great  causes  and  the  aban- 
donment of  self-interest  in  the  interest  of  social 
enterprises,  is  part  of  the  task  of  education. 

ESTHETIC   APPRECIATION 

Esthetic  appreciation  involves  more  of  life  than 
is  often  realized,  though  it  is  hard  to  state  just  what 
it  is.  All  would  probably  agree  that  it  is  concerned 
with  one's  attitude  toward  the  formal  elements  in 
experience.  That  is,  it  is  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  or 
the  reverse  in  the  presence  of  proportion  and  har- 
mony in  color,  form  or  sound.  Or  as  Dewey  puts  it 
in  his  *' Psychology,"  it  is  the  feeling  of  satisfaction 
in  the  objective  presentation  of  any  harmonious 
ideal.  It  is  concerned,  he  says,  with  the  process  of 
uttering  an  idea,  involving  harmony,  or  variety  in 
unity,  adaptation  to  the  sense  organs,  economy  of 
presentation,  subordination  to  one  purpose,  and 
simplicity.  Practically  any  experience  we  have  is 
capable  of  being  described,  therefore,  as  beautiful  or 


104  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

ugly,  according  as  it  is  significant  of  the  ideal  pos- 
sessed by  the  mind.  It  is  the  appreciation  of  beauty 
which  leads  to  creative  activity,  or  the  effort  to  pro- 
duce an  admirable  whole  rather  than  to  analyze  an 
existing  whole.  It  is  the  esthetic  appreciation  of 
wholeness  which  leads  men  to  create  great  systems 
of  thought  or  to  organize  the  fragmentary  elements  of 
experience  into  articulated  organizations  of  science. 
There  are  artists  in  science,  engineering,  business 
and  religion  as  well  as  in  literature  and  painting, 
music  and  sculpture.  For  art  is  the  expression  of 
vitality. 

Hence  the  need  for  education  to  cultivate  the 
feeling  for  the  beautiful,  that  the  individual  may  be 
led  to  enrich  his  own  life  through  the  appreciation 
of  proportion  or  color  everywhere,  and  may  also 
make  all  that  he  produces  in  some  way  a  work  of 
art. 

THE    TRAINING    OF    EMOTION    THROUGH    LITERATURE 

Among  the  purposes  for  which  literature  is  taught 
in  our  public  schools  is  surely  that  of  cultivating  the 
emotions,  sentiments,  and  esthetic  feelings  both  for 
their  own  sake  and  for  the  sake  of  their  relation  to 
conduct  and  character.  It  may  be  disputed  whether 
the  emotions  aroused  by  reading  or  in  listening  to 
stories  are  the  same  as  those  which  result  from  an 
actual  experience.  One  reason  for  this  question  is 
the  fact  that  our  emotions  in  reading  usually  give 
us  pleasure  even  though  they  are  of  the  naturally 
painful  sort.    Who  has  not  cried  over  Dickens  and 


Feeling  and  Education  105 

yet  revelled  in  the  reading?  One  follows  with 
dehghted  horror  "The  Fall  of  the  House  of  Usher," 
or  with  fervent  zest  the  bloody  adventures  of  some 
pirate  brigand.  Such  is  not  the  case,  however,  when 
we  know  the  story  to  be  true  or  even  partly  true  as 
in  "The  Jungle,"  or  some  contemporaneous  account 
of  misery.  If  we  read  then  it  is  in  spite  of  pain  for 
the  sake  of  some  ulterior  interest,  or  else  because 
we  have  acquired  a  morbid  love  of  the  melodramatic. 
This  last  is  not  only  a  possible  but  a  probable  effect 
of  certain  kinds  of  reading  which  are  offered  in  abun- 
dance to  school  children  in  the  form  of  dime  novels — 
and  some  dollar  and  a  quarter  novels — and  most 
conspicuously  in  the  form  of  the  daily  paper.  It  is 
important  therefore  to  know  just  what  literature 
does  accomplish  for  character. 

The  problem  is  complex.  It  involves  (1)  the  rela- 
tion of  mental  states  aroused  by  reading  to  those 
aroused  by  actual  situations;  (2)  the  relation  of 
mental  states  to  action;  (3)  the  relation  of  emotion 
to  the  functioning  of  mental  states. 

The  relation  of  the  mental  states  of  reading  or 
story-telling  to  those  of  actual  situations  is  the  same 
in  general  as  that  of  images  to  sensations.  Many  of 
the  same  neurones  are  involved  in  images  as  in  sen- 
sations, but  without  the  activity  of  certain  others 
which  add  the  color  of  temporal  or  spatial  relation, 
or  the  feeling  of  reality,  with  its  appropriate  motor 
connections.  The  whole  situation  of  sitting-down- 
and-reading,  or  sitting-back-and-listening,  no  doubt 
carries  with  it  a  total  inhibitory  influence  such  as  is 


106  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

found  in  sleep.  The  connections  which  are  made 
are  with  ideas  and  images  and  not  with  complete 
actions,  except  as  actions  may  be  already  coupled 
with  these  ideas  and  images. 

But  unlike  the  unordered  experience  which  results 
from  immediate  contact  with  reality,  the  mental  ex- 
perience in  reading  possesses  a  certain  controlled, 
experimental  quality.  In  studying  scientifically  a 
bit  of  physical  nature,  care  is  taken  to  control  the 
conditions  in  such  a  way  as  to  isolate  the  phenome- 
non from  distracting  relations  in  order  that  its  typical 
qualities  may  be  observed,  and  its  conceptual  value 
be  realized.  So  art  in  literature  presents  a  type  by 
selecting  certain  universal  traits  for  emphasis,  or  an 
ideal  by  recombining  in  concrete  form  the  essential 
vital  qualities  of  character,  unstained  by  the  mun- 
dane details  which  are  a  part  of  actual  experience.^ 
Literature  therefore  has  the  advantage  of  scientific 
method  coupled  with  human  material.  Consequently 
the  mental  states  of  reading  acquire  unity,  propor- 
tion, focalization,  invaluable  in  the  acquisition  of 
moral  ideals. 

In  the  second  place,  any  mental  state  may  precede 
a  given  action,  serving  as  its  cue  by  association  with 
it.  As  has  been  just  stated,  the  mental  state,  by 
which  I  mean  images,  feelings,  ideas,  lacks  certain 
of  the  nervous  connections  of  a  sensory  experience 
and  therefore  must  be  connected  up  with  the  motor 
cells  by  actual  association.  Recombinations  of  the 
elements  of  mental  states  which  have  been  already 

1.  Cf.  Woodberry,  G.  E.,  Heart  of  Man,  "A  New  Defense  of  Poetry." 


Feeling  and  Education  107 

joined  with  acts  can  occur  in  advance  of  acts,  in  the 
form  of  plans  and  resolutions,  and  these  actually 
work  by  getting  into  the  mind,  by  association,  a 
mental  state  which  will  touch  off  the  desired  act. 
If  our  response  therefore  to  any  situation  is  to  be 
changed,  we  may  have,  first,  a  momentary  inhibition 
of  any  action,  second,  a  recall  of  the  kind  of  action 
resolved  upon,  and  third,  the  control  of  the  mental 
state  which  has  that  action  as  its  inevitable  sequel. 
This  is  a  temporary  condition  and  the  habitually 
correct  response  is  the  desideratum;  but  it  can  come 
only  through  many  actual  experiences  of  this  con- 
sciously controlled  type. 

Third,  as  to  emotion.  Emotion  of  some  kind  is 
usually  included  in  our  response  to  any  critical  sit- 
uation. It  belongs  in  that  fringe  of  immediate  ex- 
perience which  assists  the  feeling  of  reality  and  the 
certainty  of  motor  connection.  Without  emotion  to 
intensify  the  experience  and  to  add  its  own  nervous 
connections,  response  might  not  take  place  at  all. 
The  character  of  the  response  not  only  determines 
the  emotion  but  is  determined  by  it,  because  the 
kind  and  degree  of  emotion  dictates  the  presence  or 
absence  of  poise,  clear  thinking,  self-control.  Once 
started,  the  emotional  response  of  fear  or  anger  may 
take  possession  of  the  field  and  crowd  out  all  possi- 
bility of  ideal  control.  It  is  vital,  therefore,  to  get 
the  right  emotional  response  started,  in  any  situation. 
But  how  is  this  to  be  done  through  literature  or 
story-telHng.?  Not  at  all  if  not  through  the  asso- 
ciation of  this  emotional  response  with  mental  states, 


108  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

and  of  mental  states  of  certain  emotional  color  with 
definite  acts. 

It  was  remarked  a  moment  ago  that  emotion 
helped  the  feeling  of  reality.  Consequently  if  a 
mental  state  is  given  an  emotional  setting  or  aspect, 
it  will  also  make  more  connections  with  conative 
groups  of  cells  and  be  more  likely  to  function  as  a  cue 
to  action  if  at  any  time  recalled.  If  in  reading  about 
some  disease  the  feeling  of  disgust  or  horror  is  asso- 
ciated with  the  consequence  of  certain  careless  acts, 
then  the  situation  normally  calling  for  those  acts 
will  arouse  the  idea  of  the  consequences,  the  feeling 
of  horror  and  disgust,  and  the  act  will  be  inhibited. 
This  is  comparatively  simple.  It  is  not  so  easy  in 
the  case  of  emotions  of  less  dynamic  quality,  or  in 
the  case  of  those  derived  interests  called  sentiments. 
But  the  principle  is  the  same.  Surround  the  ideal 
response  desired,  for  example,  with  all  the  glamour 
of  youthful  interest  in  the  heroic  by  stirring  up  these 
feelings  in  connection  with  the  performance  of  some 
similar  act  by  an  admired  literary  character.  Then 
by  imitation  and  by  suggestion  and  by  actual  neural 
connections  the  response  is  more  likely  to  come  than 
without  such  reading.  Of  course  the  absolutely  sure 
way  to  get  the  right  response  is  to  make  it,  and  this 
is  a  part  of  the  educational  task,  difficult  as  it  may 
seem.  Indeed,  one  of  the  dangers  hinted  at  already 
is  that  the  study  of  literature  will  be  simply  emo- 
tional dissipation,  resulting  in  no  change  of  reaction 
because  lacking  connection  with  actual  experience, 
— a  type  of  character  made  immortal  by  William 


Feeling  and  Education  109 

James.  The  cure  is  action,  action  supported  and 
made  desirable  by  cooperation  of  class  and  teacher, 
by  social  approval,  by  suggestion  and  imitation. 

This  leads  to  another  aspect  of  the  method.  Not 
only  must  the  emotional  reaction  be  associated  with 
imaginary  cases  and  be  started  by  the  force  of  its 
connection  with  experience,  but  it  must,  when  actu- 
ally attained  as  a  variation  in  the  individual's  activ- 
ity, be  fixed  or  made  secure  by  the  satisfaction 
claimed  for  it.  To  be  generous  may  cause  a  selfish 
boy  so  much  pain  that  one  act  will  forever  dissuade 
him  from  trying  it  again,  unless  the  generous  response 
can  be  made  to  possess  the  extrinsic  satisfaction  of 
reward  or  social  approval,  and  the  ungenerous,  the 
penalty  of  social  scorn,  until  the  natural  tendency 
to  kindly  acts  and  attitudes  can  be  substituted  for 
its  opposite  in  an  established  habit  of  goodwill. 
Here  too  literature  helps  by  examples  of  loyalty  to 
ideals  when  social  support  is  lacking.  It  provides 
thus  a  sort  of  spiritual  approval  which  leads  in  the 
direction  of  moral  autonomy. 

But  the  reality  of  the  need  for  connecting  the  idea- 
tional with  the  motor  areas,  of  immediately  associa- 
ting in  experience  ideas,  feelings  and  acts,  must  never 
be  lost  sight  of,  in  school  or  out,  as  a  necessary  con- 
dition of  efficiency  and  fixity  of  character. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  PLACE  OF  FEELING  IN  WORSHIP 

The  "Religious  Feeling" 

Should  it  be  true  that  the  heart  of  religion  is  in 
a  specific  emotion  or  sentiment,  then  it  behooves  us 
to  try  to  cultivate  that  emotion  or  its  corresponding 
mood.  James  rather  opposes  the  view  that  such  a 
peculiarly  religious  feeling  exists: 

"In  the  psychologies  and  philosophies  of  religion,  we  find  the 
authors  attempting  to  specify  just  what  entity  it  (the  'rehgious 
sentiment')  is.  One  man  allies  it  to  the  feeling  of  dependence; 
one  makes  it  a  derivative  of  fear;  others  connect  it  with  the 
sexual  life;  others  still  identify  it  with  the  feeling  of  the  infinite; 
and  so  on.  Such  different  ways  of  conceiving  it  ought  of  them- 
selves to  arouse  doubt  as  to  whether  it  possibly  can  be  one  specific 
thing;  and  the  moment  we  are  willing  to  treat  the  term  'religious 
sentiment'  as  a  collective  name  for  the  many  sentiments  which 
religious  objects  may  arouse  in  alternation,  we  see  that  it  proba- 
bly contains  nothing  whatever  of  a  psychologically  specific 
nature.  There  is  religious  fear,  religious  love,  religious  awe, 
religious  joy,  and  so  forth.  But  religious  love  is  only  man's 
natural  emotion  of  love  directed  to  a  religious  object;  religious 
fear  is  only  the  ordinary  fear  of  commerce,  so  to  speak,  the  com- 
mon quaking  of  the  human  breast,  in  so  far  as  the  notion  of 
divine  retribution  may  arouse  it;  religious  awe  is  the  same 
organic  thrill  which  we  feel  in  a  forest  at  twilight,  or  in  a  mountain 
gorge;  only  this  time  it  comes  over  us  at  the  thought  of  our 
supernatural  relations;  and  similarly  of  all  the  various  senti- 
ments which  may  be  called  into  play  in  the  lives  of  religious 
persons.    As  concrete  states  of  mind,  made  up  of  feeling  plus  a 

110 


Feeling  and  Worship  111 

specific  sort  of  object,  religious  emotions  of  course  are  psychic 
entities  distinguishable  from  other  concrete  emotions;  but  there 
is  no  ground  for  assuming  a  simple  abstract  'religious  emotion' 
to  exist  as  a  distinct  elementary  mental  affection  by  itself,  present 
in  every  religious  experience  without  exception. "i 

Yet  even  so,  he  inclines  to  the  belief  that  in  the 
religious  experience  a  characteristic  emotional  change 
takes  place.  For  example,  on  page  508  of  the  same 
book,  he  sums  up  the  two  universal  stages  of  the 
religious  experience  as,  first,  an  uneasiness,  and 
second,  its  solution.  "1.  The  uneasiness,  reduced  to 
its  simplest  terms,  is  a  sense  that  there  is  something 
wrong  about  us  as  we  naturally  stand.  2.  The  solu- 
tion is  a  sense  that  we  are  saved  from  the  wrong- 
ness  by  making  proper  connection  with  the  higher 
powers."  Here  is  the  condition  of  an  emotional 
excitement:  inability  of  the  individual  to  adjust 
himself,  accompanying  confusion,  with  consequent 
relief  from  a  new  adjustment. 

Colvin^  regards  this  failure  to  adjust  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  universe  and  its  uncertainties  as  the 
condition  of  a  specific  religious  emotion.  When  the 
object  of  the  failure  to  react  adequately  is  that  total 
something  called  the  universe,  over  against  which 
man  feels  his  helplessness,  with  fear  and  doubt,  the 
religious  response  is  to  give  up  and  to  throw  oneself 

1.  James,  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  p.  27.  Cf.  also  Leuba,  J.  H., 
A  Psychological  Study  of  Religion,  p.  9;  "With  regard  to  the  emotions,  it 
will  be  sufficient  to  remark  here  that  neither  fear,  which  was  the  dominant 
emotion  in  perhaps  all  'primitive  reUgions,'  nor  the  tender  emotions,  which 
have  gradually  displaced  fear,  nor  yet  awe,  reverence,  nor  any  other  nameable 
emotion  belongs  exclusively  to  the  reUgious  life." 

2.  Colvin,  an  unpublished  lecture  on  Emotion.  Cf.  also  Human  Behavior 
by  the  same  author. 


112  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

on  the  mercy  of  the  Power.  The  state  of  upheaval 
which  accompanies  the  sense  of  dependence  is  the 
emotional  aspect  of  the  religious  experience.  This 
is  followed  by  relief  and  calm  and  so  on.  This 
emotional  experience  of  dependence  and  surrender 
is  necessary,  he  says,  to  the  continuance  of  religion 
as  a  type  of  adjustment.  As  explanations  of  the 
world  are  advanced,  the  sphere  of  religious  reaction 
is  narrowed.  But  something  is  always  left  over 
which  is  not  explained.  Religion  is  the  means  of 
completing  the  adjustment  that  scientific  knowledge 
fails  to  achieve.  Faith  is  the  religious  mood  which 
results  from  giving  up  to  the  Power  that  controls  the 
universe.  But  it  needs  revitalizing  now  and  then 
by  an  experience  of  religious  emotion. 

But  what  is  the  relation  of  such  an  emotional 
experience  to  the  developing  religious  consciousness? 
Primitive  man  was  probably  intensely  emotional.^ 
He  frequently  found  himself  in  situations  which  he 
could  not  adequately  handle.  He  felt  himself  con- 
fronted by  the  mysterious  Unknown  in  accidents,  in 
storms,  in  drought.  All  the  confusion  and  upheaval 
found  in  any  intense  emotion  he  no  doubt  experi- 
enced; but  it  was  not  until  he  had  conceived  of  an 
over-ruling  Power  that  he  could  have  reacted  by 
submitting  to  the  mercy  of  such  a  power.  The 
religious  quality  of  the  emotion  was  conferred  by  the 
conception  of  the  nature  of  the  situation  within  which 
the  emotion  arose,  and  by  the  nature  of  the  adjust- 
ment finally  made.     In  anger,  for  example,  it  is  the 

1,  Cf.  Menzies,  History  of  Religion,  pp.  20-21;  also  cf.  Franz  Boas, 
The  Mind  of  Primitive  Man,  Chap.  IV. 


Feeling  and  Worship  US 

personal  affront  and  the  resulting  desire  to  injure  or 
annihilate,  together  with  the  whole  muscular  reac- 
tion, which  give  character  to  the  emotion.  So  the 
emotional  response  due  to  the  failure  to  meet  the 
conditions  of  life  in  the  universe  becomes  religious 
in  Colvin's  sense,  when  the  universe  is  conceived  as 
something  that  can  be  submitted  to,  and  which, 
when  submission  is  given,  will  make  the  desired 
adjustment  possible. 

If  this  is  essential  to  religion,  then  religion  must 
grow  less  and  less  prominent  all  the  time.  As  one 
reason  for  this  Colvin  suggests  that  science  is  gradu- 
ally making  possible  our  adjustments  to  conditions 
without  reference  to  the  Power.  A  more  tenable 
reason  is  that  the  idea  of  the  character  of  the  Power 
is  becoming  socialized.  That  is,  religion  is  concern- 
ing itself  with  ever  new  and  higher  objects.  When 
the  Power  is  completely  socialized,  as  it  is  in  the 
Christian  ideal,  then  such  a  reaction  as  Colvin  de- 
scribes would  be  impossible.  There  is  nothing  spe- 
cifically Christian  about  an  emotional  experience 
based  on  a  sense  of  absolute  dependence.  Reverence 
must  be  freed  from  primitive  unsocial  elements  if  it 
is  to  appear  as  a  Christian  attitude. 

If  there  were  an  emotion  definitely  associated  with 
our  sense  of  interdependence  and  social  sharing  and 
fellowship  with  both  God  and  men — an  emotion 
peculiar  to  our  effort  to  win  the  highest  conceivable 
values — then  that  would  be  a  Christian  as  well  as  a 
religious  emotion.  That  the  emotional  upheaval 
characteristic  of  more  primitive  religion  is  not  Chris- 

8 


114  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

tian  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  Christianity  is 
not  religion.  There  is  something  more  permanent 
about  the  religious  consciousness  than  this  emotion 
of  dependence,  and  that  is  the  underlying  demand 
for  more  complete  and  satisfactory  life.  The  reli- 
gious attitude  is  not  bound  up  with  any  emotion. 
In  insisting  on  the  possession  of  all  things  needful 
for  such  a  life,  the  religious  state  of  mind  may  be 
subjected  to  various  emotions,  according  to  the 
character  of  the  objects  desired  and  the  means  of 
attaining  them.  For  the  more  primitive  conscious- 
ness, where  God  is  unsocialized,  the  emotional  up- 
heaval in  the  presence  of  the  mysterious  Unknown  is 
a  natural  religious  reaction.  For  one  who  regards 
God  as  a  friend,  however,  the  emotions  character- 
istic of  our  friendly  relations  are  those  which  are 
needed  to  keep  alive  the  religious  attitude  of  faith 
in  the  attainment  and  conservation  of  the  highest 
values. 

We  need  not  claim  for  religious  experience  any 
peculiar  feeling,  even  though  we  continue  to  assert 
that  religion  is  essentially  a  matter  of  feeling  and 
attitude.  We  would  have  to  discover,  however, 
what  feeling  attitudes  are  characteristic  of  religious 
experience,  especially  in  its  Christian  form.  These 
we  have  already  found  to  be  conveniently  grouped 
under  the  rubrics  Gratitude,  Goodwill,  Reverence, 
Faith,  and  Loyalty.  If  we  can  properly  define  the 
social  relations  within  which  these  attitudes  should 
be  present,  and ,  understand  the  purposes  which 
underlie  such  relations,  we  have  gone  a  long  way 
toward  defining  religion. 


Feeling  and  Worship  115 

It  is  the  position  of  this  discussion,  therefore,  that 
the  Christian  rehgion  has  no  emotion  or  feeling  which 
is  peculiar  to  it,  but  that  the  attitudes  common  to 
our  human  life  become  Christian  when  they  are 
taken  up  into  the  Christian  purpose. 

The  Significance  of  the  Feelings  in  Worship 

Psychological  Problems 

We  have  thus  found  that  no  one  feeling  is  confined 
to  religious  experience,  but  that  religious  experience 
is  nevertheless  vitally  related  to  the  feeling-aspect 
of  consciousness.  It  will  naturally  be  asked,  then, 
what  significance  Feeling  has  for  that  aspect  of  reli- 
gious experience  called  Worship,  with  which  we  are 
now  particularly  concerned.  We  will  first  take  up 
various  problems  arising  from  the  application  of  the 
psychology  of  feeling  to  the  purposes  and  methods  of 
worship,  and  then  we  will  turn  our  attention  to  the 
relation  of  the  feeling-side  of  worship  to  experience 
as  a  whole. 

Public  worship  takes  many  forms,  from  the  extreme 
Quaker  meeting  on  one  side  to  an  elaborate  High 
Church  ritual  on  the  other.  It  would  be  an  inter- 
esting study  to  compare  their  psychological  effects. 
In  the  absence  of  such  material  let  us  consider  what 
goes  on  in  a  service  more  typical  of  many  churches 
which  stand  midway  between  these  extremes .  When 
such  a  service  is  well  organized,  the  minister  has  a 
definite  purpose  and  a  definite  plan.  He  wishes  to 
bring  the  congregation  to  a  new  point  of  view  or  to 


116  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

a  new  resolve.  To  this  end  he  selects  music,  hymns, 
prayers,  Scripture,  and  address,  and  weaves  all  into  a 
harmonious  whole  which  shall,  in  its  total  effect, 
induce  the  desired  change  in  the  minds  of  the  audi- 
ence. And  consciously  or  unconsciously,  he  makes 
use  of  the  psychology  of  feeling  and  emotion. 

The  power  of  music  to  give  varying  emotional 
tone  to  the  mental  state  is  well  known.  ^  We  are 
familiar  with  music  that  saddens  and  music  that 
brightens  our  outlook,  and  which,  by  this  direct 
control  of  mood,  indirectly  controls  the  ideas  usually 
associated  with  the  mood.  The  possibility  of  in- 
creasing the  effect  by  joining  poetry  with  music  is 
likewise  seen,  for  poetry,  with  its  rhythm,  its  sug- 
gestive imagery,  seems  also  to  have  a  control  over 
mood  which  prosaic  language  does  not.  The 
congregational  singing,  further,  unites  all  by  the 
consciousness  of  uttering  a  common  sentiment. 
There  is  an  exaltation  of  mood  from  merely  sharing 
an  idea  with  others.  Probably  everyone  has  felt 
this  even  in  conversation.  Again  the  Scripture  re- 
sponses afford  an  opportunity  for  the  social  expres- 
sion of  ideas  associated  with  the  deepest  feelings, 
both  grave  and  happy.  The  sermon  is  intended  to 
bring  the  central  idea  of  the  service  to  a  focus,  utiliz- 
ing the  mood  created  by  the  preceding  portion  of  the 
service  and  carrying  the  audience  on  to  a  clear  con- 
ception or  a  clear  resolution.  And  finally,  the  closing 
parts  of  the  worship,  in  the  singing  or  in  the  private 
devotion  of  silent  prayer,  give  the  congregation  a 

1.  Britan,  H.  H.,  "The  Power  of  Music,"  Journ.  Philos.  Psych.  Sci. 
Meth.  July  18.   1908. 


Feeling  and  Worship  117 

means  of  expressing  or  of  reflecting  upon  the  atti- 
tudes they  have  reached.  But  most  important  of 
all  is  the  effort  made  to  bring  the  ideas  into  relation 
with  the  highest  and  most  dynamic  ideals  of  life,  and 
to  make  the  members  of  the  congregation  feel  their 
association  with  one  another  and  with  the  Father 
in  Christian  fellowship  or  in  the  Christian  cause. 

Other  elements  enter  in  to  help  the  general  purpose. 
The  offering  may  be  made  distinctly  useful  irom  a 
psychological  point  of  view  as  a  means  of  tangibly 
expressing  and  so  renewing  an  altruistic  attitude. 
The  special  music  of  choir  or  organ  may  stir  the 
feelings.  Prayer  and  Scripture  may  touch  tender 
chords  and  offer  ideas  which  minister  to  the  peace 
of  the  distressed,  and  renew  the  ambition  of  the 
indifferent,  or  prick  the  conscience  of  the  conven- 
tionally moral. 

Of  course  few  services  are  so  carefully  planned  as 
to  get  all  the  effects  that  could  be  wished  for.  But 
any  service  has  some  of  the  elements  and  conditions 
described,  and  is  in  a  way  to  produce  some  of  the 
desired  effects.  The  best  study  of  such  effects  is 
found  in  Hylan's  "Public  Worship."  The  inade- 
quacy of  his  questionaire  method  has  already  been 
commented  on.  But  there  is  sufficient  evidence  to 
show  that  the  persons  questioned  did  experience 
emotional  uplift  and  moral  stimulation.  It  is  per- 
haps not  too  much  to  assert  that  it  is  because  of  such 
revitalizing  effect  that  some  persons  attend  public 
worship,  and  that  it  is  because  they  do  not  experience 
such  an  effect  that  the  others  sta}'-  away. 


118  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

A  study,  therefore,  of  the  problems  and  methods 
involved  in  the  control  of  the  desired  effects  is 
essential  to  an  intelligent  use  of  public  worship. 
Our  discussion  will  confine  itself  to  such  of  these 
problems  and  methods  as  impinge  upon  the  psy- 
chology of  feeling. 

One  of  the  effects  actually  experienced  or  to  be 
desired  in  public  worship  is  the  illumination  of  some 
central  idea  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  the  individual 
to  a  feeling  of  conviction  regarding  its  truth  or  value. 
To  this  end  all  hindrances  to  the  free  and  easy  flow 
of  ideas  about  the  main  idea  should  be  removed. 
Outside  attractions  must  be  banished.  The  mind 
must  be  attentive  to  the  service  and  not  to  personal 
vexations.  Hence  the  value  of  beautiful  church 
interiors  with  restful  decoration  and  satisfying 
appeal.  The  service  should,  further,  develop  a  gen- 
eral feeling  of  joyous  freedom.  There  is  thus  gained 
a  narrowing  of  attention  to  one  idea  or  group  of 
ideas  of  which  the  characteristic  emotional  tone  is 
joy.^  These  two  facts,  narrowing  of  attention  and 
joyous  mood,  conspire  to  accumulate  more  and  more 
of  satisfaction  through  the  increasing  ease  of  nerve 
connections  and  a  tendency  to  escape  critical  thought. 
This  is  all  of  great  service  in  gaining  the  desired  feel- 
ing of  conviction. 

1.  It  was  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  satisfaction  depends  on  the 
unhindered  activity  of  the  nervous  system.  As  a  rule,  greater  satisfaction 
attends  the  motor  connections  than  the  ideational.  This  is  perhaps  due  to 
the  fact  that  motor  connections  are  not  subject  to  as  many  inhibitions  as 
are  the  ideational.  When  once  started,  a  motor  circuit  will  usually  con- 
tinue to  its  completion  unless  external  circumstances  prevent  it.  An 
approximation  to  the  same  conditions  in  the  neurone  activity  concerned 
in  the  association  of  ideas  leads  also  to  satisfaction,  in  an  intensity  directly 
proportional  to  the  absence  of  inhibition. 


Feeling  and  Worship  119 

But  it  is  not  desirable  that  the  process  should  be 
wholly  a  matter  of  suggestion,  for  that  would  be  a 
reversion  to  the  primitive  "crowd"  type  of  emotional 
control.  All  moral  resolves  should  be  reached 
through  critical  thinking.  But  critical  thinking 
involves  inhibitions.  It  is  therefore  a  problem  of  the 
service  to  give  sufficient  freedom  to  the  individual 
in  the  choice  of  his  purposes  and  yet  to  preserve  the 
high  tone  of  feeling  necessary  for  the  sense  of  con- 
viction. It  is  this  problem  which  distinguishes  the 
experience  of  public  worship  from  that  of  historical 
mysticism,  although  in  both  types  of  experience  a 
sense  of  conviction  and  real  personal  power  are 
reached. 

In  the  mystic  experience  in  its  extreme  form  there 
is  a  sense  of  immediacy,  or  of  the  possession  of  the 
seat  of  consciousness  by  another  personality.  The 
self  is  felt  to  be  metaphysically  united  with  some 
other.  These  phenomena  are  allied  with  ordinary 
motor  automatisms,  such  as  strumming  with  the 
fingers,  which  take  place  with  no  apparant  cogni- 
zance by  the  main  stream  of  thought,  while  the  atten- 
tion is  given  to  something  else.  That  some  fraction 
of  attention,  some  fringe  of  consciousness  is  devoted 
to  these  acts,  however,  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that 
they  can  usually  be  recalled  if  sufficiently  ingenious 
methods  are  used.^  In  the  case  of  mysticism  this 
fringe  seems  to  encroach  upon  and  displace  the  nor- 
mally brilliant  nucleus  of  attention  and  to  occupy 
the  whole  field.     But  that  some  portion  of  the  main 

1.  Cf.  Morton  Prince,  The  Dissociation  of  a  Personality. 


120  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

stream  still  flows  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  automa- 
tisms are  actually  felt  as  incursions  into  the  person- 
ality from  the  outside.  Now  there  is  nothing  to 
prevent  automatisms  from  occurring  in  the  sensory 
and  ideational  cells  as  well  as  in  the  motor.  The 
fringe  may  represent  activity  of  an  ideational  as  well 
as  of  a  conative  sort,  and  immediacy  will  take  the 
form  of  the  control  of  ideas  and  become  mystic 
illumination. 

However  new  these  ideas  may  seem,  they  consist 
of  data  already  present  in  the  mind,  as  is  shown  in 
the  case  of  St.  Catharine  of  Genoa,  whose  experiences 
are  described  in  detail  by  von  Hugel.^  He  analyzes 
the  sources  of  her  conceptions.  James  also  indicates 
the  same  thing. ^  Dionysius,  for  example,  describes 
truths  by  negatives.  That  is,  the  concepts  were 
already  given.  Nor  do  the  prefixes  super-  and  omni- 
imply  any  new  knowledge. 

But  that  these  immediate  illuminations  should 
appear  as  possessions  and  revelations  is  perfectly 
in  accord  with  the  nature  of  feeling.  For  see  what  is 
going  on.  The  mind  is  in  the  unusual  process  of 
uncritical  activity.  Ideas  follow  one  another  with 
rare  ease  and  satisfaction.  Intoxicated  by  its  free- 
dom, the  mind  is  raised  to  a  new  level  of  associative 
power.  Unrestrained  by  critical  analysis,  ideas 
flock  together  in  new  and  sometimes  strange  com- 
binations, which  are  attended  by  even  greater  pleas- 
ure  than   accompanies    the     successful   issue    of   a 

1.  von  Hfigel,  The  Mystical  Element  of  Religion,  Vol.  I,  pp.  258-260, 
Vol.  II,  Chap.  X. 

2.  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  Chap.  XVI,  p.  416. 


Feeling  and  Worship  121 

process  of  reasoning.  Its  deliverances  seem  there- 
fore to  be  from  a  source  without  itself  and  to  be  pro- 
foundly true. 

Conviction  is  so  often  made  the  test  of  truth  that 
many  falsehoods,  the  truth  of  which  we  are  con- 
vinced of,  can  never  be  rectified.  The  reason  for 
the  association  of  feeling  with  truth  is  perhaps  this. 
In  practical  life  we  often  become  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  a  statement  through  our  activity.  Activity 
is  more  directly  associated  with  emotion  than  thought 
is.  Emotion  and  conviction  therefore  tend  to  go 
together.  Further,  pleasure  or  pain  is  normally 
connected  intimately  with  activity,  and  pleasant 
feeling  with  successful  activity.  Since  successful 
activity  is  a  practical  test  of  truth  and  a  basis  of 
conviction,  the  presence  of  feeling  of  satisfying  tone 
in  connection  with  any  idea  becomes  naturally, 
also,  a  guarantee  of  its  truth. 

Thus  in  the  mystic  experience  illumination  and 
conviction  are  attained  without  critical  thinking. 
It  is  one  of  the  tasks  of  public  worship  to  develop 
the  same  conviction  by  a  process  of  critical  reflection, 
and  so,  to  preserve  the  conscious  freedom  of  the  indi- 
vidual. 

When  the  purpose  of  a  service  is  to  clear  up  a 
theological  or  ethical  concept,  the  problem  is  not 
difficult.  The  leader  and  the  forms  of  worship  supply 
most  of  the  associations  used  in  reaching  the  new 
idea.  The  process  does  not  involve,  usually,  a  fierce 
struggle  of  ideas,  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  preserve 
a  general  tone  of  good  feeling  through  the  service. 


122  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

When  the  purpose  is  to  revive  the  force  of  ideas 
already  understood  and  to  associate  old  attitudes 
with  fresh  resolves,  the  appeal  is  more  to  feeling 
than  to  intellect,  and  the  emotional  stimulation  has 
the  full  assent  of  the  congregation.  This  is  the  usual 
task  of  the  service.  It  must  surround  the  attitude 
already  acceded  to  with  all  the  dynamic  possible. 
This  implies  the  association  of  the  attitude  with  all 
the  most  powerful  ideals  and  motives,  and  the  raising 
of  the  whole  individual  purpose  to  the  level  of  the 
divine  purpose. 

When  the  intention  of  the  service  is  to  change  com- 
pletely the  attitude  of  the  individual  and  develop 
altogether  new  purposes,  then  excessive  appeal  to, 
feeling  can  be  used,  but  only  with  danger  to  individ- 
ual freedom.  As  a  conscious  educational  means, 
it  may  be  justified  in  revivals,  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  adults  out  of  old  habits  and  started  in  the 
right  direction.  The  constructive  educational  proc- 
ess must  then  follow  the  momentary  control  by 
suggestion.  If  the  educational  process  precedes,  then 
the  use  of  suggestion  in  the  extreme  form  of  the 
evangelistic  meeting  may  not  be  necessary. 

Now  there  are  always  some  individuals  who  find 
reality  in  the  mystic  experience;  who  through  an 
experience  interpreted  as  immediate  union  with  God, 
achieve  real  efficiency  of  character.  Others  will 
find  help  through  a  conscious  identification  of  will 
with  the  Father's  will,  and  reach  efficiency  through 
self-conscious  control.  The  ordinary  service  proba- 
bly ministers  to  each  of  these  two  types  of  mind, 


Feeling  and  Worship  123 

and  permits  the  individual  to  attain  his  own  freedom 
by  either  road. 

It  is  in  line  with  the  mystical  method  of  external 
control  that  the  mystics  should  find  through  extreme 
emotional  upheaval  a  means  of  winning  reorganiza- 
tion and  stability  of  character.  Such  upheaval  has 
about  it  the  flavor  of  an  immediate  experience, 
unconnected  with  the  past.  Indeed  one  significance 
of  it  is  its  power  to  free  the  individual  from  bondage 
to  the  past  habits  which  tend  to  control  his  action. 
Delacroix^  brings  out  the  fact  that  as  a  result  of 
mystic  experiences  of  high  emotional  intensity  cer- 
tain of  the  Great  Mystics,  for  example,  St.  Theresa, 
have  succeeded  in  gaining  a  practical  efficiency  and 
mental  balance  not  previously  possessed.  The 
discussion  of  emotion  in  the  preceding  chapter  will 
already  have  suggested  how  this  may  have  been  made 
possible.  The  emotional  experience  itself,  as  is  seen 
from  the  diaries  of  the  mystics,  is  one  in  which  there 
is  great  confusion,  and  often  depression,  from  a  con- 
scious lack  of  adjustment.  As  soon,  however,  as 
the  subject  gives  up  and  trusts  himself  to  the  Higher 
Power,  the  adjustment  is  made,  the  tension  is  broken. 
Sometimes  the  pendulum  swings  over  to  an  expan- 
sive joyous  state  which  is  so  intense  as  to  be  painful, 
and  the  mystic  is  at  a  loss  to  express  his  joy.  This 
too  is  an  emotional  experience,  and  it  finally  gives 
way,  as  the  consciousness  of  adjustment  to  the 
Power  is  clarified,  to  a  mood  of  high  exaltation  and 
practical  power.     A  new  level  of  mental  organiza- 

1.  :6tude  d'Histoire  et  Psychologie  du  Mysticisme. 


124  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

tion  is  apparently  reached  on  a  plan  provided  by  the 
ideals  and  ideas  previously  present  in  some  form,  or 
worked  out  during  the  less  emotional  periods. 

But  it  does  not  follow  from  this,  that  this  is  a 
method  to  be  adopted  in  public  worship.  The  place 
of  intense  emotional  experience  in  public  worship 
was  touched  on  in  speaking  of  revival  services.  It 
is  desirable  to  produce  at  least  enough  emotional 
glow  to  restore  valuable  expansive  moods,  or  atti- 
tudes of  social  significance  such  as  the  five  Christian 
attitudes  discussed  in  Chapter  IV.  If  necessary, 
the  emotion  could  be  carried  to  the  point  of  upheaval 
in  order  that  an  altogether  new  habit  or  new  idea 
might  be  inserted,  but  this  is  rather  a  method  for 
adults.  A  properly  elastic  education  should  make 
it  rarely,  if  ever,  necessary  in  a  group  of  children. 

Philosophical  Problems 

So  far  we  have  been  chiefly  concerned  with 
method.  There  is  still  the  problem  of  the  content 
of  the  experience  of  worship  and  its  relation  to  our 
other  experience.  We  should  be  better  satisfied 
if  we  could  find  out  the  bearing  of  this  experience 
of  worship  upon  our  knowledge  of  God  and  of  the 
process  of  reality;  if  we  could  know  what  contri- 
bution the  Heart  may  make  to  our  grasp  upon 
reahty.  It  will  perhaps  have  already  been  suggested 
that  these  questions  are  intimately  bound  up  with 
the  philosophy  of  value. 

There  are  two  ways  of  approach  to  a  philosophy 
of  value.    The  first  is  rational  and  the  second  prag- 


Feeling  and  Warship  125 

matic.  One  test  of  truth  is  that  the  asserted  fact 
or  law  should  be  consistent  with  experience  as 
already  organized.  A  second  is  that  it  should 
agree  with  the  controlled  experience  to  follow: 
That  is,  it  should  be  subject  to  objective  test;  and 
the  apparent  exceptions  have  to  be  brought  within 
the  law  or  classification.  One  basis  for  the  selec- 
tion of  this  or  that  hypothesis  is  certainly  that  it 
satisfies  our  intellectual  demand  for  consistency. 
The  dynamic  is  the  feeling  of  satisfaction  in  the 
congruity  of  new  and  old.  Now  in  the  experience 
of  worship  the  mind  may  be  exalted  to  a  high  pitch 
of  clarity  and  eflSciency  of  association,  for  the  reasons 
given  early  in  the  chapter,  so  that  experience  is 
viewed  in  greater  completeness  and  with  more 
perfect  perspective.  The  selection,  then,  from  the 
many  incoming  ideas,  is  made  on  the  basis  of  a  fuller 
grasp  of  experience  and  is  attended  with  a  higher 
degree  of  feeling,  so  that  the  products  of  such  mental 
processes  may  seem  to  have  the  force  of  necessary 
truths  and  to  need  no  further  corroboration.  They 
are  obvious.  And  indeed,  the  point  is  that  they 
really  may  be  true,  and  that  the  nature  of  reality 
may  be  comprehended,  thus,  far  in  advance  of  the 
plodding  experience  of  empirical  investigation, 
necessary  as  that  may  be.  This  has  proved  to  be 
the  case  in  the  invention  of  genius,  in  the  insight  of 
mathematicians,  in  the  far-reaching  prognostica- 
tion of  captains  of  industry  .^  The  correctness 
of  the  vision  is  proportional  to  experience,  to  fertil- 

1.  Cf.  Th.  Ribot,  Essay  on  the  Creative  Imagination,  especially  Chaps. 
II,  III  and  IV  of  Part  I. 


12^6  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

ity  of  mind,  and  to  the,  as  yet,  unanalyzed  faculty 
of  sagacity  in  the  selection  of  the  factor  which  cor- 
responds most  accurately  to  the  process  of  reality 
and  the  flow  of  events.  Value  belongs  intimately 
with  this  whole  process  of  thought,  for  it  is  the 
feeling  of  value,  or  of  compatibility  with  present 
intellectual  needs,  which  is  at  the  basis  of  all  this 
kind  of  thinking.  And  the  value  is  thus  seen  to  be 
one  source  or  test  of  truth. 

The  other  way  of  approach  is  that  which  empha- 
sizes the  modifiability  of  reality,  or  the  possibility 
of  modification  in  the  direction  of  value.  Mind 
is  one  very  important  factor  in  the  determination 
of  the  process  of  reality.  Men  change  their  environ- 
ment and  the  nature  and  forms  of  reality  to  suit 
their  wants.  The  assertion,  therefore,  of  this  or 
that  value  as  a  necessary  correlate  of  some  need, 
is  a  first  step  toward  its  attainment,  toward  its 
creation.  The  thing  asserted  becomes  true,  and 
the  thing  demanded  becomes  real,  through  the 
activity  of  men.  Here,  then,  is  another  basis  for 
claiming  validity  for  judgments  of  value.  It  is 
only  by  making  value- judgments  that  we  get  truth; 
and  that  portion  of  truth,  that  section  of  reality 
of  which  we  do  become  cognizant,  is  likely  to  be 
just  that  which  is  marked  off  for  us  by  our  bold  as- 
sumption that  what  must  be,  that  what  we  are 
fundamentally  in  need  of  to  complete  our  intel- 
lectual or  our  physical  being,  must  exist  or  must 
be  made  to  exist. 

In  Bergson's  books  reality  is  thought  of  as  a  proc- 


Feeling  and  Worship  127 

ess,  discoverable  through  and  in  activity,  since 
activity,  being  itself  a  process,  is  of  the  same  sub- 
stance with  it.  It  has  been  suggested  how  closely 
feeling  and  activity  are  bound  up  together;  how 
feeling  is  the  registering  in  consciousness  of  the 
successful  or  unsuccessful  direction  of  activity; 
how  it  guides  our  unconscious  adjustments;  and 
how,  by  its  indication  of  the  attainment  of  intel- 
lectual harmony,  it  may  be  thought  of  as  funda- 
mental to  all  mental  activity  whatsoever.  A  part 
of  our  conscious  appropriation  of  reality,  a  part 
of  the  process  by  which  our  experience  of  reality 
takes  place,  is  through  feeling  as  attitude,  as  the 
conscious  correlate  of  activity.  Reality  becomes 
known  to  us,  not  only  through  the  analyzed  results 
of  activity,  but  in  the  activity  itself;  and  the  con- 
scious side  of  the  actual  process  of  doing  something 
is  Feeling. 

That  feeling  brings  us  no  new  concepts  does  not 
necessarily  mean  that  it  teaches  us  nothing.  That 
it  clothes  the  old  concepts  with  new  meaning  be- 
cause of  its  correlation  with  the  process  of  Hfe- 
adjustment,  and  that  it  thrills  them  with  the  dyna- 
mic of  full  conviction,  turning  thought  into  action, 
and  opinion  into  triumphant  faith — these  are  no 
small  contributions  to  human  life.  To  have  found 
the  way  through  the  need  of  an  expanding  life  to 
the  assertion  of  the  reality  of  such  a  life  is  more 
the  fruit  of  feeling  than  of  intellect.  Had  not  a 
greater  need  been  felt  than  the  need  for  consistency — 
or  had  not  the  need  for  a  larger  and  more  inclusive 


128  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

consistency  come,  which  would  include  a  possible 
as  well  as  a  past  experience — then  no  one  would 
have  rebelled  against  the  doctrine  of  a  fixed,  un- 
changing and  unchangeable  universe,  proclaiming 
instead  a  growing,  progressing,  achieving  universe. 
The  idea  was  not  new.  The  centralization  of  it, 
the  absorption  of  it  into  the  fiber  of  all  modern  think- 
ing, is  new.  It  is  the  feeling  for  the  beautiful  that 
makes  of  pigments  and  canvas  a  new  creation  in 
art.  It  is  the  feeling  for  the  good  that  turns  the 
scholar  into  a  saint.  It  is  the  feeling  for  the  true 
that  transforms  the  philosopher  into  a  prophet.^ 

Perhaps  we  are  sometimes  prone  to  overwork 
the  rubrics  ethical  and  social,  and  in  our  endeavor 
to  rid  ourselves  of  flaccid  quietism,  to  throw  out  the 
child  with  the  bath.  There  are  two  types  of  charac- 
ter, the  reflective  and  the  impulsive.  The  one 
tends  to  overvalue  contemplation  and  the  other, 
action,  as  the  sum  and  substance  of  existence.  It 
is  a  matter  of  emphasis.  We  both  act  to  enjoy 
the  subsequent  or  attendant  satisfaction,  and  we 
reflect  that  we  may  better  act.  But  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  say  that  either  one  or  the  other  aspect  of 
experience  is  the  final  end  of  existence.  It  would 
be  more  truthful  to  say  that  satisfaction  is  the  end 
of  all  living,  for  that  is,  in  a  way,  a  middle  term  be- 

1.  Although  the  claim  stands  that  there  is  a  difference  between  knowledge 
and  faith,  and  that,  however  sure  the  prophet  may  be  of  the  truth  of  his 
vision,  his  contribution  to  man's  grasp  on  reality  must  not  be  confused 
with  the  demonstrations  of  science;  yet  it  must  be  as  strongly  asserted  that 
"pure"  science  is  empty  without  faith,  that  all  its  super-structure  is  built 
on  bold  assumptions,  that  it  looks  backward  instead  of  forward,  and  that 
so  far  as  it  does  try  to  claim  that  what  has  been  must  be,  or  that  what  has 
been  shall  be  superseded,  it  has  adopted  axioms  of  faith.  When  science 
involves  a  purpose  it  becomes  a  means  to  the  ends  set  by  faith. 


Feeling  and  Worship  129 

tween  thought  and  action,  representing  both.  It 
is  more  definitely  the  sphere  of  self-hood  than  any 
other  process  or  state  of  mind  (if  we  take  it  to  in- 
clude what  we  mean  by  attitude).  As  satisfaction 
becomes  differentiated,  objectified,  and  remembered 
or  anticipated,  it  is  made  articulate  as  value.  The 
intellect  and  the  will  become  the  tools  of  desire 
in  the  localization  and  attainment  of  value.  This 
value  becomes  in  the  course  of  history  more  and 
more  social  and  ethical.  The  individualistic  values 
get  sifted  out  and  the  universal  values  become  the 
greatest  satisfiers.  But  this  does  not  mean  that  the 
basis  of  value  ceases  to  be  in  large  part  subjective. 
Its  foundation  is  still  in  the  personal  attitude  and 
personal  satisfaction.  The  inner  experience  of 
feeling  and  reflection  that  accompanies  and  results 
from  action  is  bound  to  remain  on  an  equality  wiXh 
action  itself  as  the  goal  of  life  and  the  test  of  truth. 
The  whole  circuit  of  experience  is  often  summed  up 
in  the  word  "action."  But  considering  the  unity 
of  feeling  and  action,  might  not  the  inclusive  word 
as  well  be  "feeling".?^ 

In  seeking  what  feeling  may  have  to  say  about 
God  we  come  again  upon  the  claims  of  the  mystics. 
There  are  two  kinds  of  God-experience,  immanence 
and  transcendence.  Physical  and  biological  science 
are  fast  approaching  a  degree  of  organization  and 
completeness  which  makes  the  inference  of  imma- 
nence inevitable.  The  evidence  of  a  unifying  principle 
of  a  universe  of  order,  which  includes  ourselves, 
has  led  us  to  believe  in  the  presence  of  an  intelli- 


130  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

gence  in  the  world  and  to  feel  our  oneness  with  the 
process  of  physical  nature.  In  like  manner,  biology 
is  coming  to  reiterate  more  strongly  than  ever  the 
"pragmatic  substitute  for  free  will,"  the  complete 
interdependence  of  men,  physiologically  and  socially. 
Equipped  with  the  physique  and  capacities  given 
us  by  our  progenitors,  we  develop  in  accordance 
with  our  possibilities  in  the  direction  indicated  by 
our  environment,  which  also  is  given.  What  have 
we  that  we  have  not  received.?  Individualism  has 
given  way  to  a  philosophy  of  social  solidarity  com- 
parable to  the  mystic's  loss  of  the  sense  of  self  in  a 
larger  whole.  The  difference  is  that  the  one  type 
comes  by  a  rational  process  to  an  experience  of  the 
loss  of  self  in  the  oneness  of  Humanity,  in  which  he 
finds  an  immanent  God;  whereas  the  mystic  be- 
lieves in  the  unmediated,  unconnected  and  there- 
fore un-rational  experience  of  the  loss  of  self  through 
unification  with  a  transcendent  God. 

The  experience  of  personal  communion  with  a 
transcendent  God  is  not  verifiable  in  sensory  experi- 
ence, because  it  does  not  arise  from  it.  But  the 
senses  do  not  furnish  us  with  all  the  experience  we 
have.  The  mystic  claims  an  inner  experience, 
just  as  real  and  complete  as  that  of  hearing  and 
sight,  in  which  he  asserts  that  he  has  met  God  and 
has  had  direct  evidence  of  his  existence  and  char- 
acter. He  says  that  others  may  come  and  see.  He 
makes  no  sterner  demands  than  does  the  scientist 
who  offers  his  truth  to  be  tested  by  the  world. 
None  but  a  trained  specialist  can  fulfil  the  condi- 


Feeling  and  Worship  131 

tions  for  getting  similar  sensory  impressions  through 
eye  and  ear.  Yet  that  does  not  discredit  the  pro- 
nouncements of  science.  The  mystic  experience, 
too,  can  come  only  under  certain  conditions  and  with 
long  discipline,  but  neither  is  that  a  basis  for  dis- 
crediting its  deliverances.  The  mystic  specialists 
hold  strictly  to  experience  and  throw  open  their 
treasury  of  truth  for  examination  by  any,  and  for 
verification  by  those  who,  if  they  have  the  ability, 
will  subject  themselves  to  the  same  kind  of  experi- 
ence. 

Yet  even  if  we  should  be  inclined  to  grant  all 
this,  it  is  still  true  that  the  mystic  experience  must 
and  can  be  interpreted,  at  least  as  to  its  psychological 
process,  in  terms  of  empirical  science,  and  that  the 
values  of  the  mystic  experience  must  and  can  be 
sifted  and  weighed  and  freed  from  their  suffocation 
in  an  antiquated  supernaturalism.  Feeling  is  the 
realm  of  immediate  experience  in  the  sense  that 
it  is  the  direct  and  intimate  accompaniment  of  all 
mental  processes.  But  it  remains  a  question  whether 
or  not,  through  this  immediate  conscious  grasp  on 
certain  real  processes,  we  attain  to  insight  into  the 
total  significance  of  life  and  its  relation  to  a  larger, 
more  comprehensive  consciousness,  to  a  degree  not 
possible  through  inference  from  the  isolated  facts 
of  experience. 

Now  the  value  of  mysticism  does  not  consist  of  the 
mystic  philosophy  and  its  utterances  about  God, 
nor  of  the  interpretation  that  the  mystic  gives  to 
his  mental  processes.     Rather  does  it  lie  for  us  in 


132  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

the  emphasis  of  the  mystic  on  feeling  and  reflection 
as  aids  to  the  higher  organization  of  character. 
The  mystic  is  really  concerned  with  values,  and  with 
the  assertion  of  the  need  of  the  reality  of  certain 
values  for  the  attainment  of  self-realization. 

In  public  worship  the  values  of  the  mystic  experi- 
ence can  be  gained  without  its  detrimental  aspects. 
Public  worship  may  be  conducted  so  as  to  provide 
opportunity  for  reflection  and  for  the  attainment  of 
conviction  concerning  the  great  themes  of  conduct 
and  reality.  These  ideas  are  brought  into  relation 
with  one  another  and  organized  about  the  central 
Christian  purpose.  They  are  shared  by  the  rest 
of  the  group  and  therefore,  either  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  become  part  of  a  social  program. 
In  worship  there  is  also  a  social  relation,  consisting 
of  the  fellowship  of  moral  agents  who  are  felt  to 
be  necessary  to  one  another  for  the  accomplishment 
of  their  common  purpose.  And  this  fellowship 
includes  God,  as  necessary  for  the  working  out  of 
one's  deepest  hopes,  and  as  essential  to  the  ultimate 
satisfaction  of  the  desire  for  perfect  companionship. 
In  worship  the  highest  values  of  life,  including  the 
value  of  friendship,  acquire  thus  an  eternal  signifi- 
cance; and  the  attitudes  and  feelings  of  our  common 
humanity  are  transformed  into  the  attitudes  and 
feelings  of  universal  religion. 


CHAPTER  VII 

AN  EXPERIMENT  IN  SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
WORSHIP 

The  task  yet  remains  of  showing  that  services 
can  be  planned  and  carried  out  in  such  a  way  as  to 
embody  the  general  principles  discussed  in  Chapters 
V  and  VI  with  a  view  to  accomplishing  the  ends 
set  forth  in  Chapters  I,  II  and  IV. 

During  the  season  of  1912-1913,  the  opening  ser- 
vices of  the  Union  School  of  Religion  ^  have  been 
conducted  under  the  direction  of  the  writer.  The 
scheme  was  adopted  of  dividing  the  year  into  five 
Periods,  each  devoted  to  one  of  the  attitudes  de- 
scribed in  Chapter  IV.  Every  service  was  planned 
with  great  care,  with  a  view,  first,  to  leading  the 
children  into  the  attitude  of  the  Period,  and  second, 
to  helping  them  to  come  naturally  to  an  under- 
standing of  the  meaning  of  the  attitude  and  its 

1.  The  School,  maintained  by  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  "is  an 
outgrowth  of  a  movement  that  has  been  going  on  for  some  years  in  the  City 
of  New  York.  .  .  .  Under  the  name,  '  The  Union  School  of  Religion,' 
it  is  now  a  regular  part  of  the  Seminary  department  of  Religious  Education. 
The  aim  is  to  employ  in  religious  education  both  modern  knowledge  and  the 
methods  of  teaching  that  are  approved  by  the  best  educational  practice, 
and  in  so  doing  to  train  workers  and  to  accumulate  a  body  of  experience 
that  shall  be  of  service  to  other  Sunday  schools. 

"The  general  supervision  of  the  School  is  delegated  by  the  Faculty  to  a 
Committee,  consisting  of  Professor  George  A.  Coe  (Chairman),  President 
Francis  Brown,  Professor  Julius  A.  Bewer,  Profsssor  Thomas  C.  Hall,  and 
the  Reverend  Gaylord  S.  White.  With  this  Committee,  Dean  James  E. 
Rus.sell,  Professor  Samuel  T.  Button,  and  Professor  Frank  M.  McMurry 
of  Teachers  College,  cooperate  in  an  advisory  capacity."  (Quoted  from  the 
descriptive  circular  of  the  School.) 

The  School  holds  its  sessions  in  the  new  Seminary  buildings  on  Broadway 
at  120th  Street.  The  classes  meet  in  separate  rooms  in  the  Administration 
Building.     The  opening  exercises  are  held  in  the  Chapel, 

133 


134  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

relation  to  Christian  living.  This  involved  the  se- 
lection of  hymns  with  suitable  tunes  and  words, 
choir  responses,  psalms,  stories,  and  the  writing  of 
talks  and  prayers.  Certain  problems  were  present 
from  the  start,  such  as  the  following: 

1.  All  the  classes,  from  the  First  Grade  to  the 
Second  Year  High  School,  met  together,  and  the  Kin- 
dergarten was  often  present  also.  This  meant  that 
the  service  had  to  be  made  to  appeal  to  many  dif- 
erent  stages  of  intellectual  and  social  development. 

2.  The  children  knew  only  a  few  hymns.  Con- 
sequently it  w^as  often  necessary  to  devote  part  of 
the  time  to  the  practice  of  hymns. 

3.  The  hymns  in  general  use  in  the  churches  and 
accessible  in  the  Church  or  Sunday-school  Hymnals 
represent  for  the  most  part  the  experience  of  adults, 
and  theological  interests  foreign  to  children.  This 
made  necessary  a  careful  examination  of  hundreds 
of  hymns  and  a  strict  censorship  of  their  qualities. 
The  number  of  hymns  from  which  a  suitable  selec- 
tion could  be  made  was  found  to  be  very  small. 

4.  Stories  embodying  Christian  attitudes  in  a 
form  adapted  to  use  in  the  pulpit  are  extremely 
rare.  Those  used  were  almost  always  re-written 
or  altered  to  meet  the  need  of  the  occasion. 

5.  The  place  of  worship  was  at  some  distance  from 
the  class  rooms,  so  that  it  was  necessary  to  adopt 
an  order  of  procedure  to  include  the  assembling  in 
the  building  where  the  classes  w^ere  held,  the  walk 
to  the  Chapel,  the  service,  and  the  return  to  the  class 
rooms.  This  involved  processional  and  recessional 
singing. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  purpose  of  the  service  was 
materially  promoted  by  the  following  items : 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  135 

1.  The  Chapel  where  the  services  were  held  is  a 
beautiful  gothic  structure  of  semi-cathedral  type, 
rather  small,  with  a  splendid  organ. 

2.  The  teachers  and  choirmaster  were  all  thor- 
oughly sympathetic  with  the  plans  and  assisted  gen- 
erously in  carrying  them  out.  The  organist  was  an 
able  professional  musician,  used  to  playing  in  child- 
ren's services. 

8.  Under  the  efficient  leadership  of  the  principal 
and  choirmaster  of  the  preceding  year,  the  School 
had  become  accustomed  to  the  general  order  of 
worship  followed.  The  season  consequently  began 
with  an  attitude  of  interest  in  the  service  on  the  part 
of  the  children  and  readiness  to  take  part.  There 
was  also  left  over  from  the  year  before  the  nurleus 
of  a  choir  of  boys  and  girls  with  which  the  new  choir- 
master could  begin. 

In  other  words,  the  writer  was  able  to  start  in 
with  an  assured  asset  of  "goodwill"  toward  the 
service  and  of  certain  habits  formed  the  preceding 
year  in  connection  with  those  elements  of  the  service 
which  were  continued — such  as  hymn  singing,  the 
repeating  of  psalms  and  of  the  Lord's  Prayer.  With 
these  helps  and  hindrances  the  services  were  planned 
and  conducted.  A  description  of  the  general  pro- 
gram follows : 

The  School  assembled  in  the  administration 
building,  where  hats  and  coats  were  hung  up.  At 
9.30  the  children  formed  in  line  in  order  of  grades, 
beginning  with  the  youngest.  The  choir  of  about 
twenty-four  boys  and  girls,  preceded  by  the  principal 
and  the  chorister,  then  led  the  School  through  the 
corridors  and  cloister  to  the  Chapel.    As  the  door  of 


136  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

the  Chapel  was  reached,  the  organist,  who  had  been 
playing  a  prelude,  began  the  processional  hymn, 
which  he  then  played  through.  Then,  with  the 
choir  singing  the  first  stanza  of  the  hymn,  the  School 
continued  into  the  Chapel.  The  choir  sat  in  the 
regular  choir  stalls  in  front.  As  the  rest  of  the  chil- 
dren reached  their  pews  they  joined  in  the  singing 
of  the  hymn,  which  was  continued  until  all  had  ar- 
rived in  their  places.  The  service  then  followed, 
with  such  items  as  these. 

Processional  Hymn 

The  Lord's  Prayer 

The  Doxology  or  a  Psalm 

Sentence  sung  by  the  choir 

The  Common  Prayer 

Hymn 

Story  or  Talk  or  Organ  Selection 

Prayer  by  the  Leader 

Recessional  Hymn 

All  sang  the  first  stanza  of  the  recessional  hymn  and 
then  the  choir  passed  out,  singing  the  next  one  or 
two  stanzas  alone.  When  the  choir  finished  with  an 
Amen,  the  School  started  out  in  the  same  order  as 
it  had  entered,  and,  with  the  choir  leading,  marched 
back  to  the  administration  building  to  the  several 
class  rooms. 

The  details  of  four  typical  services  are  here  given 
in  full,  with  suggestions  as  to  the  contents  of  the 
others.  The  first  has  as  its  central  attitude  Grati- 
tude, the  second  and  third,  Goodwill,  and  the  fourth, 
Reverence.     In  each  case  the  order  was  followed 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  137 

without  any  announcement  of  the  items,  except  in 
the  case  of  the  hymns. 

I  GRATITUDE 

1.  Processional  Hymn,   "Rejoice  ye  pure  in  heart."      Tune, 

"Marion" 

Rejoice,  ye  pure  in  heart. 

Rejoice,  give  thanks  and  sing; 
Your  festal  banner  wave  on  high. 
The  Cross  of  Christ  your  King. 
Rejoice,  rejoice, 
Rejoice,  give  thanks  and  sing. 

Bright  youth  and  snow-crowned  age, 

Strong  men  and  maidens  meek. 
Raise  high  your  free,  exulting  song, 

God's  wondrous  praises  speak. 
Refrain. 

Yes,  on  through  life's  long  path. 

Still  chanting  as  we  go; 
From  youth  to  age,  by  night  and  day. 

In  gladness  and  in  woe. 
Refrain. 

Still  lift  your  standard  high. 

Still  march  in  firm  array; 
As  warriors  through  the  darkness  toil 

Till  dawns  the  golden  day. 
Refrain. 

The  School  remained  standing  as  the  leader  said,  "Let    us 
pray."     Then  followed 

2.  The  Lord's  Prayer,  the  choir  singing  the  Amen 

Still  standing  the  School  then  sang 

3.  The  Doxology.i  Tune,  "Old  Hundredth." 

1.  This  was  explained  to  the  children  by  the  choirmaster  as  expressing 
for  hundreds  of  years  the  praise  and  gratitude  of  Christians. 


138  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

The  School  was  then  seated  and  bowed  during 

4.  The  Sentence  by  the  Choir  (sung  softly) 

The  Lord  is  in  His  Holy  temple. 
Let  all  the  earth  keep  silence  before  Him. 

The  School  continued  with  heads  bowed,  and  the  leader 
said,  "Let  us  pray."     Then  followed 

5.  The  Common  Prayeri  the  choir  singing  the  Amen 

O  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  Thou  hast  freely  given  us 
all  things.  Thou  hast  made  the  world  beautiful.  Thou 
dost  send  the  sunshine  and  the  rain,  that  the  earth  may 
yield  us  food  and  flowers.  Thou  hast  given  us  the  homes  we 
love,  and  hast  set  us  among  many  friends.  All  day  long  we 
are  safe  in  Thy  keeping;  and  at  night  we  sleep  in  peace 
because  of  Thy  gracious  care. 

We  thank  Thee,  our  Father,  for  all  these  gifts  of  Thy 
bounty.  As  Thou  dost  love  us,  so  may  we,  by  loving  and 
helping  others,  show  ourselves  Thy  grateful  children.    Amen. 

The   choirmaster  then   announced   the   Hymn,    which   the 
School  sang  standing: 

6.  Hymn,  "We  plough  the  fields  and  scatter."     Tune,  "Dresden" 

W^e  plough  the  fields  and  scatter 

The  good  seed  on  the  land. 
But  it  is  fed  and  watered 

By  God's  almighty  hand; 
He  sends  the  snow  in  winter. 

The  warmth  to  swell  the  grain. 
The  breezes  and  the  sunshine. 

And  soft,  refreshing  rain. 

He  only  is  the  Maker 

Of  all  things  near  and  far; 
He  paints  the  wayside  flower. 

He  lights  the  evening  star; 

1 .  The  children  learned  the  prayer  in  class  or  at  home  and  so  came  to  the 
service  prepared  to  repeat  it  in  unison. 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  139 

The  winds  and  waves  obey  Him, 

By  Him  the  birds  are  fed; 
Much  more  to  us.  His  children. 

He  gives  our  daily  bread. 

We  thank  Thee,  then,  O  Father, 

For  all  things  bright  and  good; 
The  seed  time  and  the  harvest. 

Our  Hfe,  our  health,  our  food. 
Accept  the  gifts  we  offer 

For  all  Thy  love  imparts. 
And,  what  Thou  most  desirest. 

Our  humble,  thankful  hearts. 

7.  Story,  "What  Bradley  Owed"i 

There  was  once  a  boy  whose  name  was  Bradley.  They  called 
him  Tiddley  Winks  when  he  was  young,  because  he  was  such  a 
tiny  little  thing.  When  he  was  about  eight  years  old,  he  had 
already  got  into  the  bad  habit  of  thinking  of  everything  as  worth 
so  much  money.  He  wanted  to  know  the  price  of  everything  he 
saw,  and  if  it  had  not  cost  a  great  deal,  it  did  not  seem  to  him 
to  be  of  any  value  at  all. 

Now  this  was  rather  foolish  of  him,  for  there  are  a  great  many 
things  that  money  can't  buy,  which  don't  have  any  price  at  all. 
Money  cannot  buy  the  very  best  things  in  the  world,  as  you  will 
soon  see. 

One  morning  when  Bradley  came  down  to  breakfast,  he  put  on 
his  mother's  plate  a  little  piece  of  paper,  neatly  folded.     His 
mother  opened  it,  and  what  do  you  think  was  on  it?    She  could 
hardly  beHeve  it,  but  this  is  what  Bradley  had  written : 
Mother  owes  Bradley 

For  running  errands,  25  cents 

For  being  good,  10  cents 

For  taking  music  lessons,  15  cents 

Extras,  5  cents 

Total  that  mother  owes  Bradley,    55  cents 
1.  Adapted  from  H.  T.  Kerr,  Children's  Story  Sermons. 


140  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

His  mother  smiled  when  she  read  that,  but  she  did  not  say 
anything.  When  lunch  came  she  put  the  bill  on  Bradley's  plate 
with  the  55  cents.  Bradley's  eyes  fairly  danced  when  he  saw  the 
money,  and  he  thought  his  business  ability  had  been  quickly 
rewarded.  All  at  once  he  saw  that  there  was  another  piece  of 
paper  beside  his  plate,  neatly  folded,  just  like  the  first  one.  And 
when  he  opened  it,  what  do  you  think  he  saw?  Why,  it  was  a 
bill  from  his  mother!     This  is  the  way  it  read: 

Bradley  owes  Mother 

For  being  good  to  him,  nothing 
For  nursing  him  through  his  long  illness 

with  scarlet  fever,  nothing 

For  clothes  and  shoes  and  gloves  and  playthings,  nothing 

For  all  his  meals  and  his  beautiful  room,  nothing 

Total  that  Bradley  owes  mother,  nothing 

Now  what  do  you  think  that  boy  did  when  he  read  those  words? 
Do  you  think  he  put  the  55  cents  in  his  pocket  and  went  off 
whistling?  I  am  sure  you  know  better  than  that.  No — the 
tears  came  into  Bradley's  eyes,  and  he  put  his  arms  around  his 
mother's  neck,  and  he  placed  his  hand  with  the  55  cents  in  her 
hand,  and  said,  "Take  the  money  all  back,  mother,  and  just  let 
me  love  you  and  do  things  for  you  for  nothing." 

8.  Prayer,  the  choir  singing  the  Amen 

O  most  merciful  and  loving  Father,  Thou  alone  knowest  how 
much  we  owe  to  Thee.  For  what  have  we  that  we  have  not 
received?  Our  mothers  give  us  so  much  more  than  we  can  ever 
count,  of  life,  of  love,  and  care.  But  Thou  givest  us  our  mothers. 
Our  fathers  give  us  their  long  hours  of  toil,  that  we  may  have 
plenty,  to  eat,  to  wear  and  to  enjoy.  But  Thou  givest  us  our 
fathers.  Our  teachers  give  us  daily  strength  and  help  as  we 
strive  to  learn  about  Thee  and  about  the  world  that  Thou  hast 
made.     But  Thou  dost  give  us  our  teachers. 

Life,  with  all  its  joys  and  sorrows,  with  all  its  friendships,  its 
strivings  and  its  victories,  is  Thy  gift,  O  God,  to  us.     Teach  us, 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  141 

our  Father,  the  shame  of  unthankful  hearts.  May  all  that  we 
possess  of  ease  and  security  and  friendship  only  make  us  the 
more  eager  to  share  our  blessings  with  those  who  have  made  us 
happy,  and  with  those,  too,  who  have  none  of  the  good  things  of 
life  which  we  enjoy. 

Hasten  the  time,  O  God,  when  all  men  shall  be  as  brothers; 
when  all  occasions  for  war  and  suffering  shall  cease;  and  the 
whole  world  shall  grow  into  the  fellowship  of  an  eternal  peace. 

In  the  name  of  the  Great  Teacher  and  Elder  Brother,  Jesus 
Christ.  Amen. 

At  the  close  of  the  prayer  the  choirmaster  announced  the 
9.  Recessional  Hymn,  "God  is  my  strong  salvation."     Tune, 
"Aurelia." 

God  is  my  strong  salvation; 

What  foe  have  I  to  fear? 
In  darkness  and  temptation 

My  Light,  my  Help  is  near; 
Though  hosts  encamp  around  me. 

Firm  to  the  fight  I  stand; 
What  terror  can  confound  me. 

With  God  at  my  right  hand? 

Place  on  the  Lord  reliance. 

My  soul,  with  courage  wait; 
His  truth  be  thine  aflfiance 

When  faint  and  desolate; 
His  might  thy  heart  shall  strengthen, 

His  love  thy  joy  increase; 
Mercy  thy  days  shall  lengthen; 

The  Lord  will  give  thee  peace. 

Among  other  hymns  used  during  this  Period  are 
the  following: 

"The   King   of   Love   my   Shepherd   is."     Tune,    "  Dominus 

regit  me" 
"For  the  beauty  of  the  earth."     Tune,  "Dix" 


142  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

"Come,   ye   thankful   people,   come."    Tune,    "St.    George's 
Windsor" 

Other  stories  told  were:  "About  Angels,"^  "How 
Bread  Came  to  the  Children, "2  ''The  Little  Blind 
Girl.  "^  On  one  Sunday,  in  place  of  the  story, 
the  organist  played  "The  Priests'  March"  from 
"Athalie." 

In  these  services,  gratitude  for  the  everyday  bless- 
ings of  food,  clothing,  friends,  fathers,  mothers,  and 
so  on,  was  made  prominent.  The  series  led  up  to 
Thanksgiving,  at  which  time,  on  the  appropriate 
Sunday,  a  short  story  of  the  first  Thanksgiving  was 
told,  and  the  Governor's  Proclamation  read.  The 
prayers,  as  is  illustrated  in  the  one  given,  supple- 
mented the  idea  of  gratitude  to  friends  with  that  of 
gratitude  to  God  as  the  source  of  all  good. 

II    GOODWILL* 

1.  Processional  Hymn,  "We've  a  story  to  tell  to  the  nations." 
Tune,  "Message" 

We've  a  story  to  tell  to  the  nations, 

That  shall  turn  their  hearts  to  the  right, 

A  story  of  truth  and  sweetness, 
A  story  of  peace  and  light. 

Chorus : 
For  the  darkness  shall  turn  to  dawning. 

And  the  dawTiing  to  noon-day  bright. 
And  Christ's  great  Kingdom  shall  come  on  earth. 

The  Kingdom  of  truth  and  light. 

1.  Adapted  from  Laura  E.  Richards'  story  in  Golden  Windows. 

2.  Adapted  from  Phila  P.  Bowman,  in  Children's  Sunday  Hour  of  Story 
and  Song,  by  Moffat  and  Hidden. 

3.  Adapted  from  Mrs.  C.  A.  Lane,  First  Book  of  Religion, 

4.  The  method  of  conducting  the  service  was  the  same  as  in  I. 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  143 

We've  a  song  to  be  sung  to  the  nations. 

That  shall  lift  their  hearts  to  the  Lord, 
A  song  that  shall  conquer  evil, 

And  shatter  the  spear  and  sword. 
Chorus. 

2.  The  Lord's  Prayer,  standing,  the  Amen  by  the  choir 

3.  Psalm  100,  repeated  in  unison  by  the  School,  standing:    Make 

a  joyful  noise  unto  the  Lord,  all  ye  lands,  etc. 

4.  Sentence  by  the  choir  (the  same  as  in  I),  the  School  seated 

and  bowed 

5.  The  Common  Prayer 

Our  Father  in  Heaven,  we  thank  Thee  that  in  work  and 
in  play,  in  joy  and  in  sorrow.  Thou  art  the  Friend  and  Com- 
panion of  us  all.  When  we  do  wrong  and  grieve  Thee,  Thou 
art  ready  to  forgive.     When  we  do  right.  Thou  art  glad. 

May  no  hatred  nor  envy  dwell  in  our  hearts.  Keep  our 
hands  from  selfish  deeds  and  our  lips  from  unkind  words. 
Teach  us  to  bring  cheer  to  any  who  suffer,  and  to  share  freely 
with  those  who  are  in  need.  So  may  we  help  Thee,  our 
Father,  to  bring  Peace,  Goodwill  and  Joy  to  all  Thy  children. 

Amen. 

6.  Practice  of  Christmas  Hymns 

"It  came  upon  the  midnight  clear."     Tune,  "Carol" 
"The  First  Noel" 

7.  Story,  The  Prodigal  Son,  retold  from  the  Bible 

8.  Prayer,  the  choir  singing  the  Amen 

O  most  merciful  and  loving  Father,  when  we  think  of  Thine 
unfailing  care  and  of  Thy  patient  friendliness  toward  us,  we  are 
ashamed  of  our  unfaithfulness.  We  know  that  we  have  given 
pain  to  others  by  thoughtless  words  and  acts.  We  have  been 
angry  and  sulky  when  we  should  have  been  cheerful  and  kind. 
We  have  been  selfish  with  the  things  our  parents  have  given  us, 
and  we  have  wasted  things  which  others  have  provided  for  us. 
We  are  not  worthy  of  Thy  goodness.  Yet  how  great  is  Thy  love 
toward  us,  that  we  should  be  called  the  children  of  God. 


144  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

Forgive  us,  we  pray  Thee,  and  give  us  the  desire  and  the 
strength  to  do  as  we  know  that  Thou  dost  expect  us  to  do.  May 
we  be  more  faithful  in  our  duties,  more  loyal  to  those  that  love 
us.  Help  us  to  forgive  those  who  do  wrong,  and  to  be  friendly 
with  those  who  dislike  us  and  whom  we  dislike.  May  we  never 
forget  that  they,  too,  are  our  brothers  and  sisters. 

We  are  glad,  O  God,  for  every  bit  of  joy  there  is  in  the  world, 
for  every  bright  spot  where  the  sun  of  happiness  shines.  Make 
us  Thy  torch-bearers,  that  we  may  shed  about  us  the  light  of  love 
and  goodwill. 

And  all  this  we  ask  as  we  remember  him  who  is  the  light  and 
the  life  of  men,  even  our  Lord,  Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 

9.  Recessional  Hymn,  "  Joy  to  the  World."      Time,  "Antioch" 

As  the  Period  of  Goodwill  centered  so  much  in 
the  interest  of  Christmas,  most  of  the  songs  used 
were  Christmas  hymns  and  carols  which  were  to 
be  used  at  the  Christmas  Festival.  Besides  those 
mentioned  the  following  were  learned  and  sung: 

"O  Little  Town  of  Bethlehem."     Tune,  "St.  Louis" 

"While  Shepherds  watched  their  flocks."     Tune,  "Christmas" 

"Holy  Night"  (Stille  Nacht). 

This  was  by  no  means  a  loss,  however,  as  the  pre- 
dominating spirit  of  this  music  and  of  the  Christmas 
season  itself  is  Goodwill.  The  idea  was  carried  out 
also  in  one  of  the  Christmas  Services,  which  was  as 
follows : 

in 

1.  Processional  Hymn,  "It  came  upon  the  midnight  clear" 

2.  The  Lord's  Prayer 

3.  The  Doxology 

4.  Sentence  by  the  choir  (the  same  as  for  II) 

5.  The  Common  Prayer  (the  same  as  for  II) 

6.  Psalm  100  in  unison 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  145 

7.  Song,  by  the  Kindergarten,  Martin  Luther's  "Cradle  Song" 

8.  Scripture,  Luke  II,  1-20 

9.  Hymn,  "O  Little  Town  of  Bethlehem" 

10.  A  Christmas  Story  (see  below) 

11.  Vocal  solo,  "O  Holy  Night,"  Adolphe  Adam 

12.  Carol,  "The  First  Noel" 

13.  Carol,  by  the  choir,  "The  Midnight  Mass,"  Robin  J.  Legge 

14.  Hymn,  "While  Shepherds  watched  their  flocks" 

15.  Organ  solo,  from  "Tannhauser" 

16.  Leader's  Prayer  (see  p.  146) 

17.  Recessional  Hymn,  "Joy  to  the  world" 

A   CHRISTMAS   STORY 

(Number  10  in  Service  III) 

I  am  going  to  tell  you  a  Christmas  story  this  morning.  It 
may  not  seem  like  a  Christmas  story  at  first,  because  it  happened 
last  October.  You  have  all  heard  it,  or  one  Uke  it;  for  the 
really  big  part  of  the  story  is  true  of  many  people.  It  is  about  a 
man,  who,  all  the  year  'round,  lived  in  the  spirit  of  Christmas. 

His  name  was  William  Rugh,  and  his  home  was  Gary,  Indiana. 
He  was  born  a  cripple.  So  he  never  grew  big  and  tall  like  other 
boys.  About  the  only  thing  he  could  do  was  to  sell  newspapers. 
But  he  did  that  so  well  that  he  and  his  deaf  and  dumb  partner 
had  worked  up  a  quite  flourishing  business.  Everybody  liked 
him.  Many  would  go  far  out  of  their  way  to  buy  a  paper  of 
him,  because  they  did  not  want  to  miss  his  cheery  "Good  Morn- 
ing" and  his  happy  smile.  In  spite  of  his  physical  deformity,  he 
had  a  pleasant  word  for  every  one. 

One  day  he  heard  that  there  was  a  girl  in  the  hospital  in  Gary 
who  had  been  so  badly  burned  that  she  was  not  likely  to  live. 
The  only  thing  that  could  save  her  life  was  some  skin  from  the 
body  of  a  living  person  to  replace  what  had  been  destroyed. 
William  Rugh  was  the  one  who  offered  to  help.  He  told  the 
physicians  that  they  might  have  his  crippled  leg.  Not  so  much 
to  give,  perhaps — just  a  useless  limb.  But  he  knew  that  to  have 
even  this  withered  limb  removed  was  a  grave  risk  to  his  own 
10 


146  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

frail  life.  And  he  gladly  took  the  risk  for  the  sake  of  some  one 
he  had  never  seen.  "I  want  to  be  of  use  to  somebody,"  he  said. 
And  he  was  of  use.  But  he  never  recovered  from  the  operation. 
Was  he  filled  with  regret  then  to  feel  that  he  had  given  a  life  when 
he  intended  to  give  only  a  useless  limb.''  Not  at  all.  Almost  his 
last  words  were  of  thankfulness,  that  he  really  could  have  been 
of  use  to  somebody.     And  the  girl  did  not  die. 

For  such  a  deed  of  perfect  devotion  and  of  heroic  giiivaliy, 
what  more  beautiful  memorial  could  there  be  than  the  living 
form  and  the  eternal  gratitude  of  the  one  who  was  thus  saved 
through  his  sacrifice?  "Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this, 
that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friend."  That's  what  WilUam 
Rugh  did. 

Nineteen  centuries  ago  some  one  else  did  it,  and  since  then 
many  others  have  followed  his  example.  Before  Jesus  came, 
people  did  not  often  think  it  worth  while  to  do  much  for  others. 
In  many  places  they  would  have  scoffed  at  William  Rugh.  But 
when  Jesus  taught  men  what  a  wonderful  thing  it  is  just  to  give, 
just  to  give,  without  bothering  about  the  getting,  then  men 
began  to  honor  and  admire  those  who  forgot  themselves  in  glad 
devotion  to  the  needs  of  others.  It  is  because  Jesus  lived,  that 
thousands  of  men  and  women  and  children  all  over  the  world 
can  unite  today,  not  to  mock,  but  to  honor  and  revere  and  to 
love  the  hero  of  Gary.  In  the  life  of  WiUiam  Rugh  there  was 
present  the  spirit  of  him  whose  coming  we  today  are  celebrating; 
the  spirit  of  him  who  gave  himself  that  all  men  might  have  a 
more  abundant,  larger,  happier,  worthier  life. 

And  so  you  see,  that's  why  I  called  this  a  Christmas  story. 

A   CHRISTMAS   PRAYER 

(Number  16  in  Service  III) 

Our  Heavenly  Father,  we  are  glad  that  Christmas  comes  every 
year.  The  thought  of  Christmas  and  of  all  that  it  means  fills 
us  so  full  of  good  cheer  and  of  goodwill,  that  we  can  step  out  into 
the  new  year  with  eagerness  and  confidence  and  a  kindly  feeling 
for  every  one.     We  hke  to  have  people  give  us  things.    We  are 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  147 

glad  in  knowing  that  they  love  us.  But  we  are  glad  most  of  all 
that  we  are  able  to  give  things  to  our  friends  and  to  show  them 
that  we  love  them.  Sometimes  we  cannot  give  much,  but  Thou 
hast  shown  us,  our  Father,  that  the  greatest  gift  in  the  world  is 
love. 

In  the  joy  of  Christmas,  amid  all  the  excitement  and  the 
glitter  of  gifts  and  candles,  in  our  good  times  at  home  and  in  the 
fellowship  of  friends,  may  we  not  forget,  O  Most  Merciful  Father, 
those  who  have  no  Christmas.  May  we  not  forget  the  many, 
many  boys  and  girls  and  men  and  women  for  whom  Christmas 
is  full  of  toil  and  hardship  and  sad  memories — the  many  who 
have  no  money  to  buy  gifts,  no  friends  to  buy  them  for,  no  Christ- 
mas trees,  no  homes,  no  comfort.  Oh  may  the  glow  of  the  Christ- 
mas spirit  not  grow  cold  as  we  think  of  them,  but  rather  may  the 
warm  fire  of  goodwill,  which  the  joy  of  Christmas  has  kindled  in 
our  hearts,  burn  more  brightly  and  spread  abroad  its  warmth 
and  cheer  to  those  who  are  lonely  and  hungry  and  cold. 

So  shall  little  deeds  of  kindness  fall  like  snowflakes  from  the 
sky,  and  cover  the  earth  with  a  garment  of  white;  and  in  the 
glorious  sunlight  of  God's  love,  all  things  shall  sparkle  and  glitter 
and  shine,  with  the  spirit  of  Christmas. 

And  as  we  offer  our  prayer,  we  think  of  Jesus,  whom  we  love, 
who  came  as  the  first  Christmas  gift  to  the  world,  and  in  whose 
face  we  have  seen  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  Thy  glory.    Amen. 

At  different  times  during  the  Period  other  matters 
were  introduced  into  the  service,  as,  for  example, 
the  proposal  to  repeat  a  contribution  made  the 
year  before  to  assist  some  Chinese  students,  or 
sending  a  message  to  these  students.  Opportunity 
was  thus  given  in  the  service  itself  for  the  pupils 
to  express  their  goodwill  toward  people  outside  their 
own  group. 


148  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

IV    REVERENCEi 

1.  Processional  Hymn,"  O  worship  the  King."  Tune,  "  Hanover" 

O  worship  the  King  all  glorious  above, 
O  gratefully  sing  His  power  and  His  love; 
Our  Shield  and  Defender,  the  Ancient  of  days. 
Pavilioned  in  splendor,  and  girded  with  praise. 

Thy  bountiful  care  what  tongue  can  recite.'' 

It  breathes  in  the  air;  it  shines  in  the  light; 

It  streams  from  the  hills;  it  descends  to  the  plain; 

And  sweetly  distils  in  the  dew  and  the  rain. 

Frail  children  of  dust,  and  feeble  as  frail, 
In  Thee  do  we  trust,  nor  find  Thee  to  fail; 
Thy  mercies  how  tender,  how  firm  to  the  end. 
Our  Maker,  Defender,  Redeemer,  and  Friend! 

2.  The  Lord's  Prayer,  standing,  the  Amen  by  the  choir 

3.  Opening  Stanza  by  the  School.    Tune,  "Nicaea" 

Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  Almighty! 
Early  in  the  morning  our  song  shall  rise  to  Thee; 
Holy,  Holy,  Holy!     merciful  and  mighty! 
Perfect  in  power,  in  love  and  purity! 

4.  Sentence  by  the  choir,  the  School  bowed.     The  Refrain  of 
"Day  is  dying  in  the  west."    Tune  "Chautauqua" 

Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  of  Hosts! 
Heaven  and  earth  are  full  of  Thee, 
Heaven  and  earth  are  praising  Thee 
O  Lord,  Most  High  I     Amen. 

5.  The  Common  Prayer 

O  Thou  who  art  the  God  of  Power  and  of  Love,  we  come 
to  Thee  with  thankful  praise  and  adoration.    Without  Thee 

1.  The  method  of  conducting  the  service  was  the  same  as  in  I. 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  149 

there  is  no  life,  nor  any  joy.  Thou  hast  made  the  world  in 
all  its  beauty.  Thou  hast  caused  he  sun  to  give  us  warmth 
and  light.  The  shining  stars  obey  Thy  will;  the  flowers 
also  are  Thy  ministers. 

Teach  us,  O  Father,  true  obedience  to  Thy  perfect  law. 
From  all  proud  thoughts  defend  us.  In  our  ignorance,  Thy 
wisdom  give  us.  Make  us  strong  in  Thine  eternal  strength. 
And  thus,  enfolded  by  Thy  love,  we  would  Uve  in  fellowship 
with  Thee,  O  God,  forever.  Amen. 

6.  Hymn,  "Light  of  the  World."     Tune,  "Light  of  the  World" 
Light  of  the  world,  we  hail  Thee, 

Flushing  the  eastern  skies; 
Never  shall  darkness  veil  Thee 

Again  from  human  eyes; 
Too  long,  alas!  withholden. 

Now  spread  from  shore  to  shore; 
Thy  light,  so  glad  and  golden. 

Shall  set  on  earth  no  more. 

Light  of  the  world.  Thy  beauty 

Steals  into  every  heart. 
And  glorifies  with  duty 

Life's  poorest,  humblest  part; 
Thou  robest  in  thy  splendor 

The  simple  ways  of  men, 
And  helpest  them  to  render 

Light  back  to  Thee  again. 

Light  of  the  world,  before  Thee 

Our  spirits  prostrate  fall; 
We  worship,  we  adore  Thee, 

Thou  Light,  the  Life  of  all; 
With  Thee  is  no  forgetting 

Of  all  Thine  hand  hath  made; 
Thy  rising  hath  no  setting. 

Thy  simshine  hath  no  shade. 


150  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

7.  Talk  on  Prater 

There  was  once  a  little  girl  who  thought  that  God  lived  awaY 
off  somewhere  and  didn't  pay  any  attention  to  small  folks.  So 
one  day  she  said  to  her  father,  "Papa,  I  want  you  to  say  some- 
thing to  God  for  me.  I  have  such  a  Uttle  voice  I  don't  think  He 
could  hear  it  away  up  in  Heaven."  But  her  father  said  to  her, 
"If  God  were  surrounded  by  all  the  angels  singing  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  songs  that  was  ever  heard  in  Heaven,  He  would 
say  to  them,  'Hush!  Stop  singing  for  a  little  while.  There's  a 
little  girl  who  wants  to  tell  me  something,  and  I  must  listen  to 
what  she  has  to  say.'  "  i  So  the  little  girl  wasn't  afraid  to  speak 
to  God  herself  after  that. 

A  long,  long  time  ago  people  used  to  think  that  God  would 
sometimes  appear  like  a  man  and  come  to  visit  them  unex- 
pectedly. We  know  now  that  He  doesn't  do  that.  He  doesn't 
have  to  come  to  visit  us.  He  is  with  us  all  the  time,  although  we 
never  see  Him.  Sometimes  we  wonder  what  He  is  like;  and  we 
cannot  help  thinking  that  He  must  be  like  Jesus.  We  remember 
what  a  big  strong  man  Jesus  was,  and  how  He  was  always  trying 
to  help  somebody  out  of  a  difficulty,  or  make  somebody  well,  or 
tell  some  one  how  to  be  happy  and  brave  in  misfortune,  or  teach 
people  how  to  live  together  as  children  of  the  Heavenly  Father; 
and  we  think  that  God  must  be  like  him.  God  is  our  friend  and 
He  wants  us  to  be  His  friends. 

Prayer  is  just  talking  with  our  Father.  And  He  is  not  far 
away.  We  do  not  have  to  talk  very  loud  for  Him  to  hear.  In- 
deed, when  any  one  even  begins  to  pray,  God  is  already  in  his 
heart,  helping  him  to  pray. 

A  little  boy  once  went  out  to  walk  with  his  father.  "Shall  I 
take  hold  of  your  hand.^*"  asked  his  father.  "No,"  said  the  boy, 
"let  me  take  hold  of  yours."  So  they  started  out.  Pretty  soon 
the  little  boy  stumbled,  and  he  let  go  of  his  father's  hand  and 
fell  down.  When  he  got  up  he  said,  "Father,  this  time  you 
take  hold  of  my  hand."  And  so  the  father  reached  down  and 
took  hold  of  the  little  boy's  hand,  and  he  reached  up  and  held 

1.  This  story  is  suggested  by  "A  Little  Girl's  Prayer,"  in  Ctiildren'a 
Story  Sermons,  by  H.  T.  Kerr,  p.  58. 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  151 

tight  to  his  father's  hand.  And  the  next  time  he  stumbled  he 
didn't  fall,  because  he  wasn't  doing  all  the  holding  himself,  i 

So  God  takes  hold  of  our  hands  when  we  reach  up  to  take  hold 
of  His.  Whatever  we  try  to  do.  He  is  there,  ready  to  help  us. 
He  always  wants  to  have  us  talk  with  Him  about  things.  Of 
course  we  always  want  to  think  about  Him  in  the  morning,  just 
as  we  say  good  morning  to  our  fathers  and  our  mothers  or  our 
friends.  And  just  as  our  mothers  sometimes  come  and  talk  with 
us  a  little  while  when  we  go  to  bed,  so  we  like  to  speak  with 
God  before  we  drop  off  to  sleep. 

But  He  likes  us  to  come  to  Him  any  time  at  all.  At  noon  or  in 
the  middle  of  the  morning,  or  whenever  we  have  something  hard 
to  do,  or  whenever  something  has  made  us  happy,  or  whenever 
we  have  done  wrong — then  He  wants  us  to  feel  that  He  shares 
with  us  all  our  troubles  and  all  our  pleasures. 

Sometimes  we  pray  when  we  are  alone,  and  sometimes  we 
pray  when  we  are  all  together,  as  we  are  in  church  or  in  Sunday 
school.  Then  we  realize  that  we  all  belong  to  the  great  family 
of  God,  that  whether  old  folks  or  young  folks,  we  are  all  children 
of  our  Heavenly  Father. 

8.  Prayer,  the  choir  singing  the  Amen 

O  God,  our  Father,  we  thank  Thee  that  whatever  happens  to 
us  or  whatever  we  do  Thou  art  always  our  Friend.  We  are  glad 
that  we  can  come  to  Thee  at  any  time,  for  Thou  art  always  near 
us.  Whether  we  are  thinking  of  Thee  or  not,  Thou  art  always 
thinking  of  us.  Forgive  us,  our  Father,  that  we  so  often  forget 
Thee,  We  have  often  been  disloyal  to  what  we  know  to  be  right. 
At  such  times  we  are  indeed  not  fit  to  be  called  Thy  children.  Yet 
Thy  kindness  never  fails.  We  never  get  beyond  Thy  love  and 
care. 

Help  us,  our  Father,  to  think  often  of  Thee  and  to  talk  with 
Thee  about  all  that  gives  us  happiness  or  pain.  Give  us  strength 
and  wisdom  for  every  difficulty.  Help  us  in  our  studies  to  be 
faithful  and  honorable.    Help  us  in  our  games  and  good  times  to 

1.  This  incident  is  suggested  by  "The  Father's  Hand,"  in  F.  T.  Bay- 
ley's  Little  Ten  Minutes. 


152  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

be  courteous  and  thoughtful  for  others,  and  fair-minded.    Help 
us  in  our  homes  to  be  useful  and  obedient. 

So  may  we  learn  to  turn  to  Thee  at  all  times  and  to  live  in  con- 
stant and  loving  companionship  with  Thee  and  with  all  Thy 
children,  for  the  sake  of  our  Master,  Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 

9.    Recessional  Hymn,  "Lord  of  all  life."  Tune,    "Sun  of  my 
soul" 

Lord  of  all  life,  below,  above, 

Whose  light  is  truth,  whose  warmth  is  love. 

Centre  and  soul  of  every  sphere. 

Yet  to  each  loving  heart  how  near! 

Sun  of  our  life,  Thy  quickening  ray 
Sheds  on  our  path  the  glow  of  day; 
Star  of  our  hope.  Thy  softened  light 
Cheers  the  long  watches  of  the  night. 

Our  midnight  is  Thy  smile  withdrawn; 
Our  noontide  is  Thy  gracious  dawn; 
Our  rainbow  arch.  Thy  mercy's  sign; 
All,  save  the  clouds  of  sin,  are  Thine. 

Grant  us  Thy  truth  to  make  us  free. 
And  kindling  hearts  that  burn  for  Thee; 
Till  all  Thy  li\'ing  altars  claim 
One  holy  light,  one  heavenly  flame. 

Other  hymns  of  this  Period  were 

"  The  spacious  firmament  on  high."     Tune,  "  Creation" 

"God  is  my  strong  salvation."     Tune,  "  AureUa" 

"The  King  of  Love  my  Shepherd  is."    Tune,  "  Dominus  regit  me" 

Other    story    material:     "Climbing    Alone, "^    "A 

1.  Adapted  from  a  story  by  Mrs.  Margaret  Gatty,  as  it  is  found  in  E.  H, 
Sneath,  et  al.,  The  Golden  Ladder. 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  153 

Child's  Sermon  "1  (teaching  respect  and  kindness 
to  older  people),  *'The  Great  Stone  Face."^  On 
one  Sunday  the  organist  played  Schumann's 
"Traumerei"  and  "Romance,"  and  on  another 
the  choir  sang  "O  Lord,  my  Trust,"  by  King 
Hall — a  simple  anthem  with  solo  for  soprano. 

In  these  services  the  attempt  was  made  to  make 
conscious  the  fact  of  mutual  dependence,  and  to  in- 
spire respect  for  the  aged,  or  for  things  beautiful 
and  noble,  and  to  help  the  pupils  realize  more  fully 
the  reality  of  companionship  with  the  Father. 

In  the  Periods  on  Faith  and  Loyalty  the  same 
general  plan  was  followed,  with  sufficient  variation 
in  the  program  to  keep  the  interest  fresh.  Other 
choir  sentences  were  used.  The  hymns  were  chosen 
for  their  contribution  to  the  mood  of  the  Period. 
Some  of  the  hymns  of  Faith  were 

"Come,  my  soul,  thou  must  be  waking."  Tune,"  Edna  "("Haydn") 
"Onward  Christian  soldiers."     Tune,  "St.  Gertrude" 
"Immortal  Love,  forever  full."     Tune,  "Serenity" 

An  examination  of  these  orders  of  service  will 
indicate  how  they  have  followed  out  the  implica- 
tions of  the  preceding  chapters.  Naturally  the 
actual  process  of  conducting  a  service  cannot  be 
put  on  paper,  but  some  of  the  qualities  of  a  live 
service  will  appear  in  these  statements.  The  evi- 
dence of  their  presence  will  be  brought  out  more 
fully  in  the  next  chapter. 

1.  Adapted  from  Grimm,  "Grandfather's  Corner"  as  found  in  The 
Golden  Ladder. 

2.  Based  on  Hawthorne's  story. 


154  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

1.  The  services  are  in  harmony  with  the  aims  of 
Christian  rehgious  education  as  they  are  outHned 
in  Chapter  I.  The  attempt  is  made  to  have  the 
children  come  to  appreciate  and  make  for  the  high- 
est social  values,  so  far  as  they  can  be  embodied 
in  a  service  of  worship.  The  values  are  those  of 
certain  personal  relationships,  including  relation- 
ship with  God,  as  they  are  conceived  in  the  light 
of  Christian  ethics.  As  suggested  in  Chapter  IV, 
they  are  summarized  under  the  heads  Gratitude 
Goodwill,  Reverence,  Faith,  and  Loyalty. 

2.  The  "religious  emotion"  as  it  is  described  by 
Colvin  is  not  made  conspicuous.  No  effort  is  made 
to  arouse  an  extreme  emotion  through  conscious 
recognition  of  dependence.  Rather  are  all  the 
moods  and  emotions  given  a  religious  significance. 
The  fact  of  the  mutual  interdependence  of  the 
members  of  divine  society  is  not  omitted,  however; 
and  the  moods,  both  tender  and  joyous,  which  are 
appropriate  to  this  relation,  are  stimulated. 

3.  The  need  of  an  actual  experience  in  these 
attitudes  and  relations  is  recognized.  Training  in 
worship  is  given  by  providing  services  which  the 
children  can  understand  and  appreciate  and  in 
which  all  can  take  part. 

4.  The  content  of  the  Christian  purpose  is  made 
concrete  in  terms  of  family  relationships.  These 
are  continually  emphasized  and  extended  outward 
so  as  to  include  also  friends,  playmates,  strangers, 
and  so  on.  Further,  the  services  try  to  make 
conscious  a  social  and  individual  fellowship  with 
God  as  the  Father. 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  155 

5.  The  mood  of  the  services  is  usually  buoyant. 
The  hymns  are  all  of  cheerful  music  with  good 
rhythm,  and  free  and  simple  melody.  They  are 
easy  to  sing.  So  far  as  the  tender  emotions  are 
aroused,  it  is  for  the  sake  of -the  whole  reaction, 
such  as  gratitude  or  reverence,  which  were  found 
to  have  tender  elements.  But  this  does  not  counter- 
act the  general  good  feeling,  nor  indeed  is  a  sym- 
pathetic tender  emotion  equivalent  to  the  depression 
that  comes  from  sad  music,  or  from  stories  that 
have  no  note  of  cheer  and  joy.  Contrast  is  one 
essential  to  emotion,  and  to  touch  upon  the  minor 
strings,  only  makes  the  pleasure  in  the  final  tone 
of  good  cheer  more  keen.  In  this  atmosphere  of 
general  satisfaction  the  desired  attitudes  are  devel- 
oped, with  the  confidence  that  the  bent  here  given 
to  ideas  and  desires  will  tend  to  become  permanent, 
through  the  pleasure  that  is  involved,  as  well  as 
through  repetition. 

6.  The  easy  music,  the  progress  from  one  element 
to  another,  the  continual  change  of  interest,  from 
singing  to  speaking,  or  again  to  listening,  the  stand- 
ing up  and  sitting  down — all  ther.e  things  serve  to 
hold  the  attention  on  the  service  and  to  keep  out 
conflicting  ideas  which  would  act  as  inhibitions 
of  the  present  train  of  thought,  and  detract  from 
the  desired  freedom.  In  the  service  the  children 
are  actively  doing  something  two-1:hirds  of  the  time. 
The  variety  in  mode  of  expression  gives  a  chance 
to  any  who  might  not  fully  respond  with  equal 
enthusiasm  to  all  parts  of  the  service. 


156  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

7.  Because  of  their  adaptation  to  the  pupils,  all 
can  and  do  take  part  in  these  exercises.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  the  hymns  are  quite  within  the  range 
of  the  children  of  the  first  grade,  and  yet  are  not 
inappropriate  to  those  of  sixteen  years  of  age.  The 
music  is  dignified  yet  simple  enough  for  all.  The 
choice  of  hymns  with  strong  rhythm,  and  when 
possible,  with  a  refrain,  gives  a  quality  of  enthu- 
siasm to  the  singing  and  tempts  all  to  take  part. 
The  words  involve  few  theological  pres  ippositions, 
and  only  such  as  can  be  explained.  They  are, 
rather,  expressions  of  universal  desires  or  moods, 
common  to  old  and  young  alike. 

The  same  simplicity  and  universality  makes  the 
Common  Praj^ers  suited  to  all  ages  represented. 
No  words  are  used  which  have  no  significance  to 
childhood.  No  ideas  are  brought  in  which  the 
pupils  have  had  no  dealings  with.  The  attitudes 
expressed  can  be  shared  by  all.  The  central  theme 
of  each  prayer  is  that  of  the  Period  in  which  it 
is  used.  Each  is  an  embodiment  of  the  attitude 
to  be  developed.  The  children  are  thus  actually 
within  the  experience  of  worship  in  a  real  sense. 
Their  sympathetic  use  of  the  prayer  is  itself  an 
expression  of  the  attitude  of  the  prayer.^ 

The  story  is  sometimes  told  more  particularly 
for  the  younger  ones,  and  sometimes  for  the  older 
ones.  Usually  attention  is  given  especially  to  the 
younger  pupils,  in  the  belief  that  the  rest  will  not 

1.  Cf.  the  writer's  article  on  "Teaching  Young  People  to  Pray,'! 
Pilgrim  Teacher,  dr.  Oct.  1913. 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  157 

be  unaffected.  They  will  feel  the  contrast  in  age 
and  will  have  something  of  the  tender  interest 
which  comes  from  watching  the  interest  of  a  younger 
person.  And  the  point  of  the  story  may  be  all  the 
stronger  for  them  just  because  it  comes  to  them  so 
indirectly. 

8.  Careful  attention  is  given  to  the  esthetic 
quality  of  the  services.  The  music  used  is  of  the 
best  standard  hymns.  The  words  are  chosen  not 
only  for  their  adaptability  to  the  theme  and  the 
pupils,  but  for  their  poetic  power  also.  The  stories 
and  prayers  have  a  literary  as  well  as  a  moral  value, 
and,  indeed,  must  have,  to  be  most  effective.  The 
parts  of  the  service  are  proportioned  and  fitted  to- 
gether so  as  to  support  a  single  purpose.  That  is, 
there  is  unity  and  harmony.  Nothing  clashes. 
There  is  no  friction.  Each  element  of  the  program 
prepares  the  way  for  what  comes  next.  For  example, 
the  sympathetic  and  general  use  of  the  Common 
Prayer  is  assured  by  the  soft  choir  sentence  which 
precedes  it  and  during  which  the  School  is  quietly 
bowed. 

9.  The  words  Gratitude,  Goodwill,  and  so  on, 
are  seldom  used  in  the  services.  Rather  is  it  the 
practice  to  present  situations  in  which  these  atti- 
tudes are  the  necessary  reactions.  In  the  story 
given  under  I,  to  illustrate,  the  children  followed 
the  small  boy's  sudden  realization  of  his  obligation 
to  his  mother  with  such  whole-hearted  appreciation 
as  to  spontaneously  cry  out  "No!"  at  the  question, 
"Do  you  suppose  he  put  the  55  cents  in  his  pocket 


158  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

and  went  off  whistling?"  The  attitude  was  thus 
made  concrete  in  a  form  well  within  the  under- 
standing of  all.  This  is  characteristic  of  each 
service. 

10.  Definite  instruction  is  attempted.  That  is, 
in  the  stories  and  prayers  the  pupils  are  helped 
to  get  new  ideas  or  larger  ideas  about  what  they 
should  be  grateful  for  or  to  whom  gratitude  is  due, 
or  what  prayer  means,  and  the  like.  A  good  example 
is  seen  in  the  talk  on  prayer  in  IV.  The  leader's 
prayer  aims  to  bring  out  more  clearly  the  religious 
aspect  of  the  attitudes  by  linking  them  up  with 
the  relationship  to  God  and  by  continually  em- 
phasizing fellowship  with  Him  and  harmony  with 
His  purpose,  as  the  essence  of  the  Christian  life. 

11.  The  stories  given  show  how  the  mood  desired 
is  connected  with  ideas  or  experiences  already 
associated  with  that  mood  in  the  pupil's  mind. 
In  I,  the  attempt  is  made  to  reinforce  a  mood 
occasionally  present  by  presenting  a  concrete 
situation  which  can  be  sympathetically  followed 
by  the  children.  The  memories  of  mother-care 
are  already  attractive  to  them,  and  any  ideas  freshly 
connected  with  it  are  likely  to  be  colored  with  the 
same  warm  feeling.  Further,  as  was  noted  above, 
under  (9),  the  children  followed  the  story  with 
zest  and  gave  spontaneous  assent  to  its  significance 
even  before  the  actual  point  was  brought  out. 
They  made  their  own  application.  Their  moral 
assent  to  the  worth  of  the  attitude  was  gained, 
and  for  the  moment  at  least  the  attitude  was  adopted 
as  their  own. 


An  Experiment  in  Worship  159 

12.  The  hearty  cooperation  of  teachers  and 
chorister  has  already  been  mentioned  as  a  large 
factor  in  the  success  of  the  services.  The  teachers 
knew  the  prayers  and  sang  the  hymns,  and  by  every 
action  indicated  their  attitude  of  worship.  The 
chorister  trained  the  choir  in  the  words  and  music 
of  hymns  and  responses,  and  conducted  the  singing 
of  the  School.  The  organist  assisted  in  training 
the  children  and  furnished  the  musical  background 
of  worship  which  it  is  usually  so  hard  to  get.^ 

Thus  we  have  illustrated  the  constructive  program 
which  has  been  carried  out  with  apparent  success 
in  the  Union  School  of  Religion.  It  is  a  program 
based  on  a  definite  aim  as  to  what  should  be  accom- 
plished in  the  service  of  worship;  upon  a  study  of 
what  worship  has  been  able  to  accomplish  in  the 
past;  and  upon  a  psychological  analysis  of  the 
methods  by  which  the  results  desired  could  be 
attained. 

In  order  to  avoid  too  hasty  conclusions  as  to  the 
value  of  the  services,  however,  the  necessity  was 
felt  of  securing  some  evidence  of  what  they  accom- 
plished for  the  pupils.  This  evidence  will  be  pre- 
sented in  the  next  chapter. 

1.  The  matter  of  graded  worship  has  not  been  discussed  here  as  it  was 
not  a  problem  in  the  Union  School  of  Religion.  The  above  principles, 
however,  are  involved,  and  it  is  only  a  matter  of  properly  applying  these 
principles  to  the  separate  divisions  of  the  school.  The  pupils  of  each 
division  have  specific  needs  and  interests  and  these  must  be  taken  into 
account  as  well  as  the  universal  needs  and  interests  spoken  of  in  this  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
EVIDENCES  OF  THE  RESULTS  OF  WORSHIP 

The  General  Method 

A  twofold  purpose  of  the  services,  as  was  brought 
out  in  Chapter  IV,  was  (1)  to  develop  attitudes, 
and  (2)  to  rationalize  these  attitudes.  It  is  not 
enough  simply  to  arouse  feeling;  each  feeling  must 
be  definitely  and  consciously  related  to  a  defined 
situation.  Attitudes  are  not  controlled  directly, 
but  through  situations,  either  real  or  imaginary. 
These  attitudes  must  be  tied  up  with  ideas.  They 
must  also  be  defined  in  the  light  of  the  Christian  pur- 
pose, else  they  are  in  danger  of  being  merely  formal 
or  wrongly  directed  or  too  limited  in  scope.  A  child 
may  feel  goodwill  toward  his  friend  but  not  toward 
the  servant.  To  associate  the  attitude  of  goodwill 
with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  is  one  step 
toward  making  the  attitude  Christian. 

In  class  work,  our  Sunday  schools  have  frequently 
been  content  to  deal  with  definitions  and  ideas 
of  what  attitudes  the  pupils  ought  to  have,  without 
directly  associating  the  ideas  with  the  attitudes 
themselves.  On  the  other  hand,  in  certain  types 
of  emotional  services,  schools  have  been  satisfied 
with  a  sort  of  blind  enthusiasm  or  a  feeling  not 
properly  defined  in  terms  of  its  purpose.     In  the 

160 


The  Results  of  Worship  161 

services  conducted  by  the  writer,  the  attitude  was 
given  meaning  and  direction  in  the  idea,  and  the 
idea  was  given  dynamic  in  the  feeling  with  which 
it  was  associated. 

Two  questions  then  had  to  be  asked  about  the 
effects  of  the  services :  (1)  Were  the  attitudes  better 
understood  at  the  end  than  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Period  (in  each  case  about  six  weeks)?  (2)  Was  the 
pupil's  actual  feeling-response  any  more  adequate 
after  the  series  of  services? 

Before  trying  to  answer  these  questions  it  was 
necessary  to  decide  what  kind  of  information  should 
be  sought.  Evidently  an  extensive  statistical  study 
was  not  possible.  The  numbers  were  too  few  (130 
-150  pupils)^.  The  services  were  held  only  once  a 
week  and  only  six  weeks  could  be  allowed  to  a 
Period.  The  subject  matter  was  such  that  a  defi- 
nition of  a  unit  of  measurement  was  not  feasible. 
Doubtless  we  have  all  felt  the  absence  of  goodwill 
in  some  person,  and  it  may  be  that  it  will  ultimately 
be  possible  to  describe  the  point  where  there  is 
"just  not  any"  goodwill,  and  then  define  the  various 
degrees  of  goodwill  possessed  by  different  persons  or 
by  the  same  person  at  different  stages.  But  psy- 
chology has  not  yet  succeeded  in  so  analyzing  such 
a  complicated  phenomenon  as  a  human  attitude. 

Yet  this  does  not  prevent  our  finding  some 
evidence  of  change  in  the  puijils'  response.  The 
judgment  of  the  change  will  not  be  by  a  comparison 

1.  This  represents  the  attendance  of  pupils  from  Grade  I  through  the 
High  School.    But  the  tests  were  confined  to  the  first  eight  grades. 

11 


162  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

of  units  which  can  be  charted.  The  change  cannot 
be  stated  in  units  as  in  the  measurement  of  arith- 
metical or  speUing  abihty.  It  is  sufficient  for  our 
purpose  to  show  that  in  the  case  of  some  of  the 
pupils  some  change  in  a  particular  direction  took 
place,  even  though  the  amount  of  the  change  can- 
not be  described. 

But  it  was  essential  to  trace  this  change  to  the 
influence  of  the  service — Not  that  the  worship  should 
be  isolated  from  life,  however;  this  was  never  the 
intention.  It  was  always  the  practice  to  connect 
the  worship  with  life,  to  make  it  a  part  of  life.  It 
was  not  intended  to  limit  the  value  of  the  service 
to  the  time  the  children  were  in  Chapel.  Yet  it 
is  not  unfair  to  claim  for  the  service  at  least  a  share 
in  the  development  of  the  attitudes,  although  prac- 
tice in  "taking"  the  attitudes  was  afforded  outside 
of  the  service  itself. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  teachers  were  cautioned 
not  to  try  to  give  any  special  class  instruction  in 
the  attitude  under  consideration  until  the  end  of 
the  Period,^  although  they  were  to  watch  the  way 
in  which  the  pupils  commented  on  the  service. 
This  was  by  no  means  an  isolation  of  influence,  yet 
it  did  give  some  assurance  that  considerable  effect 
was  produced  in  the  service  or  as  a  direct  conse- 
quence of  it. 

Three  types  of  evidence  were  used.  (1)  In  order 
to    discover    changes    in    the    pupils'    ideas    about 

1.  Grade  II  at  first  used  the  general  scheme  of  the  Period- themes  as  a 
basis  for  selecting  the  material  of  the  curriculum.  The  effect  on  Grade  II 
may  therefore  be  discounted.  But  see  the  teacher's  opinion,  pp.  172  and 
189. 


The  Results  of  Worship  163 

the  attitudes,  certain  questions  for  them  to  answer 
were  given  them  just  before  and  just  after  each  of 
the  first  three  Periods.  The  older  pupils  wrote 
the  answers.  With  the  younger  ones,  the  answers 
were  obtained  by  means  of  conversations  with  the 
teacher.  (2)  Each  teacher  was  asked  to  give  his 
carefully  considered  impression  of  the  changes  in 
attitude  and  his  estimate  of  the  relation  of  these 
changes  to  the  services.  (3)  As  to  the  atmosphere 
of  the  service  itself  and  the  attainment  of  a  spirit 
of  worship,  Professor  Coe,  who  was  a  regular  at- 
tendant, and  the  chorister  were  asked  to  write  brief 
statements  giving  their  impression.  It  was  at 
first  desired  to  have  the  teachers  observe  and  record 
spontaneous  acts  and  words  indicative  of  the  atti- 
tude in  question.  For  example,  what  did  a  child 
do  when  given  his  picture  for  the  day,  or  when  a 
story  was  told  in  class  about  someone  who  was  in 
trouble  and  needed  help?  This  observation,  how- 
ever, required  too  much  attention  to  be  made 
systematic,  and  the  results  appear  only  as  they 
guided  the  teachers'  impressions.  The  first  two 
types  of  evidence  are  given  in  the  case  of  each  of  the 
attitudes  of  Gratitude,  Goodwill,  and  Reverence. 
The  last  type  appears  at  the  end  of  the  chapter. 

Effects  of  the  Services 

The  method  of  testing  was  as  follows:  In  the 
first  three  grades  the  teachers  devoted  a  part  of 
the  class  hour  to  a  conversation  with  the  pupils, 
based  on  the  little  stories  given  below  under  each 


164  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

Period.  The  pupils  were  encouraged  to  express 
their  individual  opinions  and  the  teacher  took 
note  of  what  each  said.  In  the  higher  grades,  for 
the  first  three  tests,  the  pupils  were  asked  to  write 
in  class  short  answers  to  the  questions  given  below 
with  each  Period.  The  teacher  first  told  the  story 
and  then  put  the  questions  on  the  board  so  that  the 
pupils  could  have  them  before  them  as  they  wrote. 
In  the  other  tests  the  questions  were  handed  to 
the  pupils  by  the  teacher,  who  explained  what  they 
were  and  asked  them  to  write  the  answers  at  home, 
without  any  assistance,  and  mail  them  at  once  to 
the  School. 

The  writer  then  took  all  the  answers  of  each  grade 
and  made  a  careful  tabulation.  It  was  found  that, 
owing  to  absences  and  perhaps  to  a  gradual  decline 
of  interest  in  the  tests  as  they  lost  their  novelty, 
the  number  of  pupils  answering  both  the  prelimi- 
nary and  final  questions  for  each  Period  became 
smaller.  The  answers  printed  below,  however, 
indicate  the  character  of  the  change  found  among 
the  pupils  who  took  both  sets  of  questions  in  each 
Period.  In  judging  these  results  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  this  was  not  primarily  a  statistical  study, 
and  therefore  only  the  general  trend  of  the  results 
is  to  be  looked  for. 

GRATITUDE 

Grades  I-III 

The  whole  plan  was  talked  over  between  the 
writer  and  each  of  the  teachers,  and  the  analysis 


The  Results  of  Worship  165 

of  gratitude  as  it  appears  in  Chapter  IV  was  ex- 
plained to  them.  Then  the  following  description 
of  the  preliminary  test  on  the  idea  of  gratitude  was 
put  in  their  hands: 

"The  following  may  serve  as  the  subject  of  a  conversation  to 
be  used  as  supplementary  means  for  obtaining  data  concerning 
the  present  quality  and  range  of  the  gratitude  response. 

A.  When  is  one  grateful.^     Give  many  instances. 

B.  When  one  is  grateful,  what  does  one  do?" 

This  test  preceded  the  beginning  of  the  six-week- 
period  devoted  to  Gratitude.  After  the  next 
period  began,  the  following  final  test  was  provided: 

"  '  What  happened  last  week? '     (Thanksgiving) 

'What  does  Thanksgiving  mean?'  (To  give  thanks.  To  show 
we  are  grateful) , 

*Do  you  remember  how  several  Sundays  ago  I  asked  you  to 
tell  me  at  what  times  you  thought  people  were  grateful?' 

'Let's  try  again  to-day  to  think: 

A.  Of  all  the  things  one  is  grateful  for;  and 

B.  Of  all  the  things  one  does  when  he  is  grateful. 

'  This  time,  after  you  have  all  answered  the  questions,  I  am 
going  to  tell  you  my  answer.'  i 

Then  proceed  as  before,  putting  down  the  answers  in  as 
individual  a  manner  as  possible." 

1.  The  following  suggestion  was  made  to  the  teachers  at  the  same  time. 
Its  value  as  a  supplement  to  the  instruction  of  the  services  is  obvious.  The 
effect  of  it  of  course  did  not  enter  into  the  tests: 

"Have  ready  to  tell  them  at  the  end  any  commonplace  instances  or  occa- 
sions for  gratitude,  such  as  the  fact  that  we  always  have  reason  to  be  grate- 
ful for  fresh  air,  for  sunlight,  for  houses  to  live  in,  food,  clothing,  homes, 
parents,  school,  presents  and  all  the  little  courtesies  of  life. 

And  then  point  out  carefully  in  your  own  words  that  Gratitude  means 
not  only  being  glad  that  we  have  all  these  things,  but  also  recognizing  the 
fact  that  someone  else  has  given  them  to  us  or  done  them  for  us,  it  may  be 
at  great  cost  to  himself.  At  all  events,  these  good  things  are  evidence  of 
someone's  else  kindly  feelings  for  us.  Therefore,  gratitude  also  means  the 
desire  and  effort  to  make  the  other  person  glad  that  he  has  done  something 
for  us.  And  this  we  usually  do  by  doing  something  for  him  in  return  or  by 
saying  'Thank  you.'  And  as  God  is  the  Giver  of  all  good,  we  are  grateful 
to  Him  and  try  to  please  Him  and  do  things  for  Him  in  every  way  we  can." 


166  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

In  Grade  I  each  pupil  whispered  his  answers  to 
the  teacher  so  that  the  rest  could  not  hear.  Sug- 
gestion from  one  pupil  to  another  was  thus  ehmi- 
nated.  It  was  apparent  from  the  first  test  that 
the  pupils  had  such  a  dim  idea  of  what  it  means 
to  be  grateful  that  they  could  formulate  nothing 
definite  about  it  at  all.  The  answers  to  the  second 
test  are  all  given.  They  evidently  concern  the 
what-one-does  side  of  the  matter. 

1.  I  gave  the  elevator  man  a  penny  the  other  day. 

2.  I  changed  father's  sHppers  the  other  day  when  he  was  tired. 

3.  I  gave  my  brother  my  top  to  play  with. 

4.  I'm  always  helping  mother. 

5.  I  say  thank  you  to  the  elevator  man. 

6.  I  wrote  a  little  letter  to  mother  thanking  her  for  a  birthday 

party  she  gave  me. 

7.  I  let  my  brother  play  with  my  new  electric  engine. 

8.  I  said  thank  you  when  some  one  gave  me  a  seat  in  the  subway 

one  day  last  week. 

In  Grade  II  the  pupils  heard  what  each  other 
said.  But  suggestion  was  partly  avoided  by  putting 
the  question  to  the  whole  group  and  then  having 
them  think  quietly  about  it.  Each  was  to  find 
an  answer  and  then  keep  it  to  tell  to  the  whole 
class.  The  writer  witnessed  this  experiment  and 
it  was  evident  that  the  pupils  understood  that  each 
was  to  give  the  answer  he  had  thought  of  before 
the  others  gave  theirs.  The  following  is  a  sample 
answer : 

Preliminary  Test  Final  Test 


A.  When  Christmas  comes.  A.  Food,  clothing,  brothers,  sis- 

ters, fathers,  mothers,  homes. 


The  Results  of  Worship 


167 


B.  I  felt  glad.    I  gave  a  present     B.  People  should  be  good  and 
to  everybody.  kind  for  all  these  things. 

In  Grade  III  the  answers  were  not  attached  to 
individuals  and  it  is  probable  that  suggestion 
played  a  role.  The  results  do  not  indicate  the 
same  degree  of  change  as  do  the  above,  though  they 
are  not  without  value. 


Preliminary  Test 


Final  Test 


Parents. 

Brothers  and  sisters. 

Food. 

Flowers  and  sunshine. 

Pets. 

Jesus. 

The  country. 


Thanks  God. 
Thanks  one's  parents. 
Tries  to  be  good. 
Gives  things  to  the  poor. 


Question  A 

Parents. 

Brothers  and  sisters. 

Food. 

Clothing. 

Eyesight  and  hearing. 

Health. 

All   the   pretty   things 

in  the  world. 
Christmas. 
Toys. 
Playmates. 

Question  B 

Be  good  and  kind. 

Do  many  things  for  poor  people 
at  Christmas. 

Give  things  to  blind  and  crip- 
pled children  to  cheer  them. 


Grades  V,  VI  and  VIII 

The  matter  was  talked  over  with  each  teacher 
as  in  the  case  of  Grades  I-III,  and  the  following 
announcement  was  made: 


168  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

"The  following  may  serve  as  the  subject  of  an  essay  to  be 
used  as  supplementary  means  for  obtainuig  data  concemmg  the 
present  quality  and  range  of  the  gratitude  response. 

A.  WTien  is  one  grateful?     Give  many  instances. 

B.  When  one  is  grateful,  what  does  one  do? 

Please  do  not  vary  the  wording  of  the  questions  if  you  can 
help  it.  The  length  of  the  essay  might  be  from  a  few  words  to 
a  couple  of  pages,  according  to  the  age  and  inclination  of  the 
pupil." 

The  final  test  was  presented  in  this  way: 

"Begin  by  mentioning  the  fact  that  all  our  great  annual  festi- 
vals, such  as  Christmas,  Easter  and  Thanksgiving,  are  for  some 
real  purpose.  They  mean  something  definite.  Now  what  is  the 
real  meaning  of  Thanksgiving?  What  is  it  for?  (To  give  thanks. 
To  express  gratitude.) 

Then  go  on  to  ask,  'Do  you  remember  the  questions  that  you 
wrote  on  a  few  weeks  ago?  For  some  weeks  we  have  been  think- 
ing about  gratitude.     Suppose   we  try  again  to  put   down: 

A.  All  the  times  when  anybody  is  grateful,  and 

B.  All  the  things  that  one  does  when  he  is  grateful. 

This  time  I  am  going  to  write,  too,  and  when  you  have  finished 
I  will  read  you  what  I  have  written."'i 

These  results  were  written  and  so  more  surely- 
individual  than  those  of  the  younger  pupils.  The 
time  for  the  tests  was  taken  out  of  the  class  hour, 
as  before. 

Grade  V 

The  first  test  was  given  as  described.  In  the 
second  test,  however,  the  wording  of  the  questions 
was  changed  so  that  the  results  of  Question  A 
cannot  be  compared.  The  answers  to  Question  B, 
however,  showed  such  changes  as  the  following: 

1.  See  note  1,  p.  165. 


The  Results  of  Worship) 


169 


Preliminary  Test 
When    one    is    grateful 
does  one  do? 

We  thank  the  helper. 


/     he 


Final  Test 
what        In    what    ways    can 
grateful? 

By  thanking  God  for  having 
such  great  things  happen,  and 
days  for  thanks,  and  showing 
gratitude  that  so  great  people 
were  born,  and  by  showing 
gratitude  by  helping  others. 


Grade  VI     Examples 

Question  A  {see  p.  168) 
Pupil  No.  1 
Preliminary  Test  Final  Test 


A  person  is  grateful  when 
some  one  does  a  kind  deed  for 
them,  such  as,  I  am  grateful 
to  anyone  who  will  let  me  ride 
when  I  am  tired.  I  was  grateful 
this  summer,  when  we  were  on 
a  mountain  a  girl  lent  me  her 
blanket. 

Pupil 

One  is  grateful  when  one  falls 
in  the  river  and  gets  pulled  out. 

If  you  don't  know  how  to 
spell  a  word  and  some  one  tells 
you. 

Question  B 
Pupil 

When  one  is  grateful  to  the 
person  they  try  to  pay  back  the 
person. 


One  is  grateful  for  homes, 
schools,  care,  sun,  rain,  trees, 
grass,  food,  clothes,  friends,  all 
kindnesses,  good  times,  safety, 
pets,  toys,  and  so  many  other 
things  that  one  cannot  name. 


No.  2 

One  is  grateful  for  the  food 
he  gets.  One  is  grateful  for 
home.  One  is  grateful  for  the 
things  one  has. 

{see  p.  168) 

No.  3 

When  one  is  grateful  they 
pray  and  thank  God.  When 
people  are  thankful  for  a  thing 
some  one  does  for  you,  you  pay 
it  back  or  at  least  you  thank 
them,. 


170  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

Pupil  No.  4 

Sometimes  he  sends  them  a  We  try  to  take  care  of  our 

present.      Sometimes    he   gives  home.      This  is    the   way    we 

them  a  medal.    Sometimes  send  show  our   gratitude.     We  try 

them  some  money.  to  use  our  time  well. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  some  of  the  children,  rep- 
resented by  pupils  1  and  2,  came  to  think  of  grati- 
tude as  appropriate  to  the  common  experiences 
of  life  rather  than  as  a  feeling  reserved  for  such 
rare  occasions  as  rescue  from  drowning,  and  so  on. 
Pupils  3  and  4  illustrate  how  the  way  to  express 
gratitude  came  to  be  more  fully  appreciated  by 
some  of  the  children. 

Grade  VIII  Boys 
An  Example 
Preliminary  Test  Final  Test 


Question  A 

I  am  grateful  when  someone  One  is   grateful   when   some 

gives    me   something   or   when  one  does  or  gives  something  to 

someone  does  something  for  me.  him.    I  am  grateful  for  the  peo- 

At  Christmas  and  on  my  birth-  pie  around  me  and  the  blue  sky 

day  when  I  receive  presents  I  overhead.    I  am  grateful  for  the 

am  grateful.    When  I  had  a  lot  grass,  the  snow,  the  rain,  and 

of  work  to  do  and  I  wanted  to  the    small    birds    which    make 

go  somewheres  with  a  friend  my  sweet  music  in  the  warm  days 

mother  said  I  didn't  have  to  do  of  summer, 
the  work,  then  I  was  grateful. 


The  Results  of  Worship  171 

Question  B 

WTien     I     was     grateful     I         WTien  I  am  grateful  I  express 
thanked  my  parents  and  after-     my    thanks    by    letter    or    by 
wards  I  helped  my  mother  or     words.    And  I  usually  give  my 
my  father  by  doing  a  double     benefactors   presents   or   some- 
amount  of  work.    Last  summer     thing  to  show  my  gratefulness 
for  my  birthday  I  got  a  tele-    when  I  get  a  chance,  such  as 
scope,  and  to  show  my  thanks  I     Christmas  or  on  their  birthdays, 
washed    the    carriage,    painted 
the   porch   and   beat   the   rugs 
very    willingly    without    being 
told  a  second  time. 

A  comparison  of  the  answers  showed  that  all  three 
boys  who  took  both  tests  "domesticated"  the  idea 
of  the  things  one  should  be  grateful  for.  The  ex- 
pression of  gratitude  was  well  understood  from  the 
start,  as  is  to  be  expected. 

Grade  VIII  Girls 

The  girls  of  Grade  VIII  answered  only  the  final 
questions.  But  these  answers  indicate  the  effect 
of  the  services,-  as  shown  in  the  following  example. 
The  others  are  of  similar  type.  The  single  excep- 
tion is  of  a  girl  who  entered  the  class  at  the  close 
of  the  Period. 

A.  We  are  grateful  when  our  mothers  and  fathers  help  us  and 
do  things  for  us.  We  are  grateful  when  our  friends  help  us  or 
send  us  things.  We  are  grateful  for  our  food,  clothing,  parents, 
sisters,  brothers  and  for  everything  that  we  get. 

B.  When  one  is  grateful  they  usually  give  thanks  and  some- 
times return  it  in  some  good  thing. 


172  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

On  summing  up  the  results  of  Grades  V,  VI  and 
VIII  it  was  found  that  87  per  cent  of  those  taking 
both  tests  showed  ositive  advance  in  the  idea  of 
either  the  expression  of  gratitude  or  the  range  of  its 
appHcation. 

As  was  indicated  on  p.  163,  the  observations  of 
spontaneous  acts  could  not  be  carried  out  system- 
atically. But  under  the  second  class  of  evidence 
the  teachers  gave  some  valuable  impressions,  of 
importance  for  both  the  "idea"  and  "feeling" 
aspects  of  the  attitude. 

GENERAL  IMPRESSIONS 

Grade  I 

"It  is  very  difficult  to  say,  I  feel,  to  what  extent  the  little 
pupils  of  Grade  I  have  changed  with  reference  to  their  feelings 
of  gratitude.  The  tests  showed  very  plainly  reactions  of  joy  and 
tenderness,  but  there  were  only  two  cases  where  the  children 
expressed  by  spontaneous  acts  their  feelings  of  gratitude. 

"If  there  has  been  any  change,  it  is: 

"(1)  In  making  them  conscious  of  the  fact  that  all  things  are 
given  them  richly  to  enjoy;  that  they  should  be  grateful  for 
these  things  which  they  have,  and  for  all  the  joys  and  pleasures 
of  their  little  lives.  In  a  word,  the  work  has  helped  them  to 
reach  beyond  the  ego. 

"(2)  In  steadily  making  greater  the  range  of  objects  toward 
which  the  feehng  is  directed." 

Grade  II 

"In  October  some  of  the  children  spoke  of  being  grateful  for 
unusual  things,  e.  g.,  for  Christmas  presents,  birthday  parties. 
These  same  children  in  the  next  test  mentioned  many  common 
everyday  occurrences  and  things,  e.  g.,  sunshine,  the  love  of 
father  and  mother,  home,  flowers,  etc. 


The  Results  of  Worship  173 

"A  few  of  the  children  were  in  the  Horace  Mann  School  last 
year  and  said  every  day  the  prayer: 

'  For  this  new  morning  with  its  light, 
For  rest  and  shelter  of  last  night, 
For  books  and  food,  for  love  and  friends. 
For  everything  Thy  goodness  sends. 
We  thank  Thee,  Heavenly  Father.' 

These  children  mentioned  in  October  such  things  as  are  noted  in 
the  prayer.     The  others  showed  the  marked  change  spoken  of. 

"The  story  about  Bradley's  bill  to  mother  influenced  the 
children  very  strongly.  Many  came  to  me  with  accounts  of 
service  rendered  at  home  and  of  things  done  for  playmates." 

Grade  III 

"In  the  second  Goodwill,  Gratitude,  and  Reverence  tests  the 
children  showed  that  their  feelings  were  extended  to  a  much 
greater  number  of  objects.  In  the  first  tests  it  was  diflScult  to  get 
each  child  to  name  even  one  object  toward  which  these  feelings 
were  directed;  whereas  in  the  second  tests,  each  child  wanted  to 
give  several.  The  question  is,  of  course,  whether  this  shows 
growth  or  merely  memory." 

Grade  VII 

"Expressions  of  gratitude  in  my  class  seem  always  turned 
toward  their  parents  and  not  toward  their  Heavenly  Father.  I 
think  the  idea  of  gratitude  is  not  so  noticeable  with  them  as  with 
the  average  children.  (Of  course  they  are  well-trained  and  say 
•thank  you.'    This  is  habit  from  training  and  not  gratitude.)" 

From  all  these  various  tests  and  observations  it 
seems  fair  to  conclude  that  at  the  end  of  the  Period 
most  of  the  pupils  tested  did  have  a  better  notion 
of  what  Gratitude  means  than  they  had  at  the  be- 
ginning. 


174  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

GOODWILL 

Grades  I-III 

After  the  general  analysis  of  Goodwill  (Chapter 
IV)  had  been  made  known  to  the  teachers,  the  fol- 
lowing test  was  given,  before  the  Period  on  this 
attitude  began: 

"Please  make  this  test  a  part  of  the  lesson  routine. 

'Read  or  say  the  following  paragraph,  and  then  get  the  pu- 
pils to  tell  what  the  teacher,  the  mother  and  the  playmate  said 
about  the  boy.  Please  keep  the  answers  of  individuals  as  far  as 
circumstances  will  allow, 

*A  man  from  a  far  country  once  came  to  visit  America,  to 
find  out  all  about  the  things  that  the  people  here  thought  were 
right.  He  wanted  to  know  whether  the  people  were  good  to  one 
another;  for  in  his  country  the  people  were  not  good  to  one 
another,  but  were  hard-hearted,  and  stingy  and  quarrelsome. 
One  day  he  heard  of  a  boy  about  .  .  years  old,  who  was  generous 
and  kind  and  good-natured  and  sympathetic  to  everyone.  The 
stranger  didn't  know  what  these  things  mean,  so  he  asked  the 
boy's  teacher  and  his  mother  and  his  playmate  just  what  the 
boy  did  that  made  people  call  him  generous  and  kind  and  good- 
natured  and  sympathetic.  Now  what  do  think  his  teacher,  his 
mother,  and  his  playmate  said  that  he  didf 

At  the  close  of  the  Period  the  following  final  test 
was  arranged: 

Do  you  remember  the  story  I  told  you  some  time  ago  about 
the  man  from  a  far  country  who  didn't  know  what  it  means  to 
be  generous  and  kind  and  good-natured?  He  didn't  know  what 
goodwill  means,  did  he?  So  he  asked  the  mother  and  teacher  and 
playmate  of  a  little  boy  what  he  did  that  made  people  think 
he  was  sympathetic  and  kind  and  good-natured.  This  time  let's 
pretend  that  I  am  the  stranger,  and  you  tell  me  what  goodwill 
means.     You  tell  me  toward  whom  people  feel  goodwill  and  what 


The  Results  of  Worship  175 

they  do  to  show  it.     When  you  have  told  me  what  you  think, 
I'll  tell  you  what  I  think  goodwill  is.i 

Then  proceed  as  before,  putting  down  the  answers  in  as  in- 
dividual a  manner  as  possible." 

It  was  not  the  definition  of  the  word  Goodwill 
which  was  sought,  but  the  filling  up  and  the  broaden- 
ing out  of  the  whole  idea  in  terms  of  the  situation 
and  the  individual's  response.  The  word  was  not 
used  at  all  in  the  first  test.  It  is  used  in  the  second 
so  as  to  help  round  up  the  attitude  in  a  formula. 
There  is  danger  here  of  making  the  tests  themselves 
an  educational  factor,  but  they  are  so  only  in  the 
sense  that  they  help  in  attaching  the  word  goodwill 
to  the  thing  itself. 

A  comparison  of  some  of  the  answers  from  these 
grades  will  indicate  the  general  nature  of  the  results. 

Grade  I 
Preliminary  Test  Final  Test 


It  seems  to  me  he  was  a  good  He  would  lend  children  things 
boy.  when  they  came  to  play. 

I  believe  he  was  kind  and  He  was  kind  and  helpful  to 
helpful  to  others.  others  and  did  things  for  them. 

The  content  of  goodwill  was  not  unknown  to 
some  of  these  six-year-olds  at  the  start.  For  some 
of  the  rest  it  gained  in  concrete  detail.  As  before, 
these  answers  were  given  secretly  to  the  teacher. 

1.  The  following  suggestion  was  also  made,  but  as  in  the  case  of  Grati- 
tude it  did  not  affect  the  test:  "Be  ready  to  tell  at  the  end,  in  your  own  words 
and  with  illustrations,  that  goodwill  means  being  glad  when  others  are  glad 
and  sorry  when  they  are  in  trouble.  It  means  being  ready  to  forgive  anyone 
who  does  wrong  or  is  spiteful.  And  we  show  our  goodwill  by  being  cheerful 
and  courteous  toward  friends  and  strangers,  by  being  kind  to  those  who  need 
help  or  sympathy,  by  being  generous  to  our  playmates,  etc." 


176  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

Grade  II 

The  conditions  of  the  test  in  this  grade  were  the 
same  as  in  the  preceding  Period. 

Examples 
Preliminary  Test  Final  Test 


His  mother  said  he  gave  Be  good  to  all  people,  be 
things  to  the  poor.  His  teacher  kind  to  all  people  and  help 
said  he  did  good  work.  them. 

He  was  happy  and  did  not  We  show  goodwill  by  being 
quarrel.  Let  others  decide  on  nice  to  people,  loving  people, 
games.  obeying  father  and  mother  and 

helping  them  by  giving  things 

away. 

Some  who  were  present  at  the  final  conversation 
distinctly  had  the  idea  of  goodwill  as  inclusive  of 
ally  as  well  as  just  the  nearby  folks,  which  was 
brought  out  in  the  services,  and  which  none  of  the 
children  manifested  in  the  first  test.  These  results 
are  discounted,  however,  by  the  fact  that  the  teacher 
based  part  of  her  class  work  on  the  outline  followed 
in  the  services. 

Grade  III 

The  answers  are  listed  fully  without  reference  to 
individuals : 

Preliminary  Test 

Obeyed  the  first  time  he  was  told  to  do  anything.  Was  quiet 
when  his  mother  felt  ill.  Helped  with  the  house  work.  Kept  his 
room  neat.     Didn't  fuss  when  he  couldn't  have  his  own  way. 


The  Results  of  Worship  177 

Studied  his  lessons  and  was  good  in  school.  Played  the  games 
his  friends  wished  and  didn't  always  want  his  own  way.  Let 
other  children  play  with  his  toys.  Sent  toys  he  had  outgrown 
to  hospitals  and  to  poor  children.  Answered  politely  when 
spoken  to. 

Final  Test 

People  toward  whom  goodwill  is  felt:  Brothers  and  sisters, 
playmates,  God  and  Jesus,  grandparents,  teachers,  friends,  poor 
people,  parents  and  everybody. 

How  goodwill  is  shown : 

(1)  To  parents:  By  obeying  promptly  and  pleasantly.  By 
seeking  out  helpful  things  to  do  and  not  waiting  to  be  asked, 
e.  g.,  hanging  up  one's  clothes,  putting  away  toys,  asking  if  there 
are  errands  to  be  done  before  one  goes  out  to  play.  Be  quiet  when 
parents  are  tired,  sick  or  busy. 

(2)  To  playmates:  Play  games  desired  by  others.  Don't  be 
disagreeable  when  you  have  to  be  "it"  in  a  game.  Let  others 
play  with  your  toys. 

(3)  To  the  poor:  Give  toys  and  clothes. 

(4)  To  everybody:  Be  nice  and  pleasant  always. 

There  was  an  evident  increase  in  the  range  of 
ideas  here,  but  a  good  deal  of  this  may  be  due  to 
suggestion  or  the  desire  to  add  something  to  the 
list.i 

Grades  IV-VIII 

The  prehminary  test  described  in  the  following 
paragraph  was  written  during  the  lesson  hour : 

"Please  make  this  as  much  a  part  of  the  lesson  routine  as 
possible. 

"Read  or  say  the  following  paragraph,  putting  on  the  board 
or  on  paper  the  items  'generous,  kind,  good-natured  and  sym- 
pathetic,' and  the  names  'teacher,  mother  and  playmate,'  so  that 

1.  Cf.  the  teacher's  comments  on  p.  173. 
12 


178  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

the  pupils  may  all  have  them  in  mind.  Then  ask  them  to  write 
what  the  teacher,  the  mother  and  playmate  said;  the  girls  writing 
about  the  girl  and  the  boys  about  the  boy. 

"A  man  from  a  far  away  country  once  came  to  visit  America, 
to  find  out  all  about  the  things  that  people  here  thought  were 
right.  He  wanted  to  know  whether  the  people  were  good  to  one 
another,  for  in  his  country  people  were  not  good  to  one  another, 
but  were  hard-hearted  and  stingy  and  quarrelsome.  One  day  he 
heard  of  a  boy  and  a  girl  about  .  .  years  old,  who  were  generous 
and  kind  and  good-natured  and  sympathetic  to  everyone.  The 
stranger  didn't  know  what  these  things  mean;  so  he  asked  the 
teacher,  the  mother  and  the  playmate  of  each  of  the  children 
just  what  each  did  that  made  people  call  them  generous  and 
kind  and  good-natured  and  sympathetic.  Now  what  do  you 
think  that  their  teachers,  their  mothers  and  their  playmates 
said  that  they  did?  Girls,  you  tell  about  the  girl,  and  boys,  you 
tell  about  the  boy." 

The  final  test  was  taken  at  home.  The  form  was 
as  follows: 

Name Grade 

Date 

Please  answer  without  any  assistance  and  mail  surely  by 
Tuesday  night: 

If  you  were  to  tell  a  child  what  "goodwill"  means,  what  would 
you  say  to  him:  Toward  whom  do  people  feel  goodwill;  and 
what  do  they  do  that  makes  you  sure  they  really  feel  it? 

The  following  warning  was  given  to  the  teachers : 

"These  envelopes  contain  the  final  'Idea'  test  on  Goodwill. 
The  pupils  are  asked  to  write  the  answers  to  the  questions  and 
mail  them  by  Tuesday  night  surely.  Repeat  what  you  said  last 
timei  about  getting  the  answers  in  promptly  and  about  the  real 
help  they  will  be  to  the  school  if  they  are  carefully  made." 

Most  of  the  pupils  of  Grade  IV  understood  that 

1.  ReferrinK  to  the  first  test  on  Reverence,  also  written  at  home. 


The  Results  of  Worship  179 

people  should  feel  kindly  toward  their  friends  and 
playmates  as  this  typical  answer  to  the  first  test 
shows : 

Let  other  children  have  their  way.  Do  things  for  their  mother. 
To  be  obedient  for  their  teachers.  If  children  hurt  themselves, 
sympathize  with  them.  If  they  have  candy  they  share  it  with 
others.  If  some  one  should  break  anything  of  theirs,  they  don't 
get  cross  with  them. 

The  answer  of  the  same  child  to  the  second  test 
was: 

I  would  tell  a  child  that  goodwill  meant  kindly  feeling  to  one 
another.  You  should  feel  goodwill  toward  one  another.  People 
make  you  think  they  feel  goodwill  when  they  are  happy  and 
kind  and  good. 

Apparently  the  notion  of  being  kind  and  good- 
natured  was  associated  with  the  word  goodwill, 
but  the  meaning  of  goodwill  was  not  extended 
beyond  the  immediate  circle,  except  in  the  case  of 
three  children,  who  got  the  idea  that  kindness  and 
goodness  were  meant  for  everyone. 

With  the  Fifth  Grade  there  was  more  indication 
of  progress.  One  pupil  answered  the  preUminary 
test  thus: 

My  reply  to  the  stranger's  question:  Generous  means  to  give 
up  something  that  you  want  very  much.  Kind  means  to  be 
generous.  Good-natured  means  to  be  happy.  Sympathetic 
means  to  sympathize  with  somebody. 

The  same  pupiFs  answers  to  the  final  test  were : 

(1)  If  I  were  going  to  tell  a  child  what  goodwill  means  I  would 
say  it  means  to  have  kind  feelings. 

(2)  People  feel  goodwill  toward  everybody. 


180  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

(3)  To  make  a  person  really  feel  it  you  have  to  be  kind  to 
them. 

In  Grade  VI  most  of  the  pupils  had  already  caught 
the  broader  significance  of  goodwill,  at  least  in 
idea,  before  the  series  began.  The  following  is  a 
typical  example: 

Preliminary  Test 

The  boys  thought  that  the  boy  was  good-natured  because  he 
always  agreed  to  the  games.  He  was  kind  because  he  never 
hit  any  little  boy.  If  he  had  some  candy  he  would  always  give 
half  to  his  playmates.  If  he  saw  a  boy  hurt  he  would  pick  him 
up  and  bring  him  to  his  mother. 

The  teacher  said:  He  gave  a  boy  half  of  his  only  pencil.  If  he 
saw  a  boy  all  by  himself  he  would  go  over  and  play  with  him. 

Final  Test  (Same  pupil) 

Goodwill  means  kind  feeling  toward  one  another.  You  should 
feel  goodwill  toward  everybody.  (You  know  their  goodwill)  by 
their  kind  actions  toward  you. 

The  following  is  an  example  from  Grade  VII : 

Preliminary  Test 

When  the  foreigner  asked  the  teacher  about  Frank  the  teacher 
said  that  Frank  was  kind  because  when  he  went  to  Sunday 
school  he  gave  some  money  to  help  the  poor.  He  also  helped 
children  who  were  in  need  of  it. 

When  he  asked  Frank's  mother  about  Frank's  qualities  she 
said  he  was  good-natured  and  kind  to  her  whenever  he  came  in 
from  his  afternoon  play. 

The  foreigner  asked  Frank's  playmates  about  this  generosity. 
They  said  that  he  always  let  the  other  boys  use  his  things  and 
that  he  was  always  very  sympathetic  with  the  other  boys  who 
did  not  win.  The  playmates  also  said  that  he  was  very  good- 
natured  about  all  his  games  and  they  liked  him  very  much. 


The  Results  of  Worship  181 

They  said  that  by  having  all  these  good  qualities  he  not  only 
made  the  games  nicer  for  the  other  boys,  but  had  a  better  time 
himself. 

Final  Test 

(1)  Goodwill  means  feeling  well  toward  somebody  else.  Feel- 
ing as  if  they  were  your  brother. 

(2)  Their  relations  and  friends.  People  who  are  working  for 
the  same  cause  as  they  are. 

(3)  They  help  the  people  out  of  difficulties  and  take  part  in 
their  troubles  and  pleasures.  They  are  kind  to  them  and  give 
them  things. 

Although  evidencing  a  fine  appreciation  of  the 
meaning  of  goodwill  from  the  start,  the  above 
example  shows  an  enlargement  of  the  idea  in  the 
final  test.  We  should  expect  a  better  understanding 
of  the  attitudes  with  the  higher  grades  than  with 
the  lower.  As  to  whether  the  attitude  itself  is 
properly  joined  with  the  idea  will  be  discussed 
later. 

The  girls  of  Grade  VIII  gave  conscientious  an- 
swers to  the  questions.  The  idea  of  the  significance 
of  goodwill  in  human  relationships  was  already  so 
well  grounded  that  no  great  change  could  be  ex- 
pected in  the  second  set. 

From  this  brief  description  it  will  be  seen  that 
goodwill  was  for  the  most  part  fairly  understood 
by  the  pupils.  But  even  so,  there  was  a  genuine 
advance  toward  its  universal  application  and  a 
more  complete  grasp  of  the  meaning  of  its  expres- 
sion on  the  part  of  fourteen  pupils.  It  is  not  strange 
that  the  Fourth  Grade  should  be  slow  to  acquire 
a  larger  social  point  of  view,  since  they  are  only 


182  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

nine  to  ten  years  of  age.  That  they  know  how  to 
express  their  goodwill  to  their  playmates  and  families 
is  itself  something  of  an  attainment.  That  they 
actually  do  express  it  more  widely  is  seen  from  the 
quotation  from  their  teacher's  comments  on  page  183 
under  General  Impressions.^  This  is  true  also  of 
the  younger  grades,  where  general  good  feeling  is 
pretty  well  understood. 

GENERAL    IMPRESSIONS 

Grade  I 

"The  children  showed  greater  change  in  their  feelings  of  good- 
wall  than  in  those  of  gratitude.  Not  only  was  the  range  of  objects 
toward  which  they  had  these  feelings  enlarged,  and  the  intensity 
accordingly  increased,  but  I  have  felt  that  there  is  greater  sin- 
cerity of  feeling. 

"This  may  be  due  to  the  previous  tests  on  gratitude,  apparently 
unsuccessful,  to  constant  and  various  presentations  of  the  idea, 
and  in  part  to  the  season  of  the  year  at  which  these  tests  were 
made." 

Grade  IIP 

After  giving  the  results  of  the  second  test  on 
goodwill  the  teacher  of  this  grade  went  on  to  say : 

"When  the  teachers  were  mentioned  one  boy  said  that  he 
and  other  boys  in  his  day-school  class  didn't  show  goodwill  to 
their  teacher,  but  had  a  great  deal  of  fun  teasing  her,  for  which 
she  rapped  their  knuckles.  This  he  thought  was  not  goodwill  on 
her  part. 

"One  of  the  girls  suggested  that  if  the  boy  try  showing  a  little 
goodwill  perhaps  the  teacher  wouldn't  rap  his  knuckles.     The 

1.  Cf.  also  the  description  of  class  prayers,  pp.  190-194. 

2.  See  above,  p.  173  under  Gratitude. 


The  Results  of  Worship  183 

general  opinion  of  the  class  was  that  the  boy's  behavior  was 
much  to  be  deplored. 

"When  playmates  were  under  discussion,  this  same  boy  said 
that  he  knew  a  boy  toward  w^hom  it  was  impossible  to  feel  good- 
will. This  other  boy  is  in  the  habit  of  hitting  him,  and  he  takes 
great  pleasure  in  returning  the  courtesy  in  kind.  He  was  advised 
by  one  of  the  girls  to  'walk  away'  next  time  the  boy  show^ed  a 
disposition  to  quarrel,  and  one  of  the  other  girls  suggested  that 
he  treat  the  boy  so  kindly  at  all  times  that  he  will  learn  to  be 
kind  and  polite  too. 

"Both  of  these  discussions  were  carried  on  by  the  pupils  quite 
voluntarily  and  without  suggestion  from  me." 

Grade  IV 

"  Grade  IV  seems  to  be  growing  in  responsiveness,  interest  and 
desire  to  fulfil  every  obligation.  The  children  respond  royally  to 
every  call  for  service.     Manifestations  of  this: 

"The  home  work  is  always  done  well  according  to  the  ability 
of  the  pupils.  Any  exception  to  this  has  been  due  to  physical  or 
mental  inabihty,  and  every  effort  has  been  put  forth  by  these 
children  to  'make  up.'  About  half  the  class  have  done  much 
more  home  work  than  required.     .     ,     . 

"The  children  have  been  glad  to  sing  in  the  choir,  even  those 
who  earlier  in  the  year  thought  it  almost  impossible  to  be  at 
Sunday  school  by  9.30.     (The  choir  meets  at  9.00) 

"Our  weekly  offerings  seem  to  be  growing  larger.  The  children 
show  great  interest  in  amounts,  and  in  what  shall  be  done  with 
the  money. 

"The  children  all  responded  to  the  suggestion  to  make  scrap 
books  for  hospital  children  and  carried  out  the  suggestion — 
doing  more  than  I  expected  of  them. 

"The  different  ones  who  have  acted  as  class  officers  have 
shown  great  pride  and  interest,  and  have  made  a  number  of 
suggestions  about  their  work  which  we  have  carried  out." 


184  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

Grade  VII 

"In  goodwill,  my  pupils  have  made  the  most  noticeable  im- 
provement. As  the  feeling  of  reverence  is  due,  I  believe,  to  the 
printed  prayers,  so  I  believe  the  feeling  of  goodwill  is  due  to  the 
stories  told  in  chapel.  My  pupils  are  ready  to  do  anything  for 
anybody  and  do  it  cheerfully,  if  they  think  the  person  is  needy. 
This  feeling  does  not  exist  toward  ordinary  mortals."^ 

REVERENCE 

The  whole  content  of  the  idea  of  Reverence  could 
not,  of  course,  be  brought  out  in  the  brief  number 
of  services  held  during  a  Period.  The  effort  was 
therefore  concentrated  on  associating  the  feeling 
of  reverence  with  a  few  important  '* objects"  with- 
out trying  to  make  clear  to  the  younger  children 
that  this  attitude  was  of  the  same  kind  in  each 
case,  and  could  be  called  reverence.  It  was  thought, 
however,  that  with  the  upper  grades  more  might 
be  accomplished  by  turning  the  pupils'  attention 
to  the  various  elements  of  reverence  and  by  assisting 
them  to  an  experience  of  the  attitude  itself.  The 
tests  were  taken  at  home  as  before.  The  form  of 
the  preliminary  test  was: 

Name Grade 

Date 

Please  answer  without  any  assistance  and  mail  surely  by 
Tuesday  night: 

1.  Since  this  was  written  the  class  has  shown  a  remarkable  change  of 
feeling  toward  a  certain  local  charity  which  they  had  come  to  feel  did  not 
longer  need  their  support,  and  which  they  had  grown  tired  of  assisting. 
The  teacher  kept  bringing  the  matter  to  their  attention  in  a  quiet  way. 
Finally  one  of  the  class  reported  some  instances  of  need  at  the  institution. 
After  they  had  thrashed  the  matter  over,  pro  and  con,  for  a  while,  the  class 
unanimously  voted  to  give  practically  all  they  had  in  the  treasury  to  this 
institution! 


The  Results  of  Worship  185 

If  you  were  to  tell  a  little  child  what  it  means  to  be  reverent, 
what  would  you  say  to  him?  When,  where  and  toward  what  is  a 
person  reverent?     What  does  he  do  to  show  his  reverence? 

Similarly,  the  form  of  the  final  test  was: 

Name Grade 

Date 

Please  think  over  these  questions  and  answer  them  without  any 
assistance.     Mail  by  Tuesday  night. 

When  is  a  person  reverent?  Where  is  a  person  reverent? 
Toward  what  is  he  reverent?  What  does  he  do  to  show  his 
reverence? 

The  following  is  a  sample  answer  from  the  Fourth 
Grade : 

Preliminary  Test 

I  would  tell  him  he  had  to  be  a  minister.  A  person  is  reverent 
if  he  is  a  minister.  He  shows  he  believes  in  God  and  talks  about 
him. 

Final  Test 

(1)  When  he  is  good.  (2)  In  church.  (3)  He  is  reverent 
toward  God.     (4)  Do  what  God  wishes  him  or  her  to  do. 

The  results  in  Grade  V  were  generally  negative, 
indicating  no  change  in  the  idea.  Two,  however, 
included  age  as  an  object  of  reverence.  The  rest 
confined  the  experience  to  God  and  Church. 

An  Example  from  Grade  VI 

Preliminary  Test 

If  you  hear  some  beautiful  music  or  if  you  go  to  a  beautiful 
church,  one  feels  as  if  he  wanted  to  worship.  You  feel  reverent 
if  you  worship  God.     To  obey  and  honor. 


186  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

Final  Test 

When  he  feels  that  there  is  a  person  greater  than  he.  In  church. 
Toward  God  and  his  parents.    Pray  and  obey  and  go  to  church. 

Two  sets  of  answers  from  the  Eighth  Grade  girls, 
although  they  do  not  help  much  in  the  conclusions, 
are  nevertheless  so  good  as  to  warrant  quoting  in 
full: 

First  Pupil.  First  Test.  A  person  is  reverent  when  he  pays 
close  attention  to  what  is  being  said.  One  place  where  a  person 
is  reverent  is  in  Church.  A  person  is  reverent  toward  what  is 
said  and  done.  In  order  to  show  his  reverence  a  person  must  pay 
attention. 

Second  Test.  (1)  When  some  one  has  done  a  great  thing,  then 
a  person  is  reverent  toward  this  person.  (2)  When  the  person  is 
with  some  one  who  has  been  very  kind  or  has  done  a  great  and 
good  thing.  (3)  He  is  reverent  toward  anyone  who  is  kind  and 
generous  and  pleasant.  (4)  He  must  be  kind  to  the  person  and  if 
that  person  had  done  something  for  him  he  must  do  something  in 
return. 

Second  Pupil.  First  Test.  If  I  were  to  tell  a  little  child  when 
to  be  reverent,  where  and  to  whom,  I  should  say  that  he  should 
be  reverent  when  he  enters  the  house  of  God  or  when  he  is  speak- 
ing of  some  one  who  has  done  a  great  service  to  his  country  or 
who  deserves  reverence,  even  a  man  who  is  working  for  the  good 
of  some  charity,  church,  town.  Where:  In  the  house  of  God, 
tabernacle  or  church.  Toward  your  father  and  mother  and 
Christ  and  God  above  all  of  course,  and  all  the  saints,  and  true 
and  honorable  citizens  of  any  country  or  place,  anyone  who  is 
honestly  and  conscientiously  working  to  do  good. 

Second  Test.  (1)  A  person  is  reverent  when  he  is  in  church, 
when  he  is  thinking  or  speaking  or  praying  to  God,  when  he 
sees  some  magnificent  work  of  nature  or  some  picture,  etc.,  that 
makes  him  feel  that  there  is  some  good  in  the  world.  (2)  A 
person  is  reverent  in  church,  before  old  people  who  have  led  good 
lives,  before  some  statue  or  painting  representing  Christ  or  the 


The  Results  of  Worship  187 

saints  or  virgin.  (3)  He  is  reverent  toward  God,  Christ,  the 
saints,  holy  pictures  or  statues  representing  them,  toward  good 
pure  men  or  women  who  have  led  good  lives  and  have  helped 
their  fellows  rather  than  themselves.  (4)  This  is  a  rather  diffi- 
cult question  to  answer  because  nearly  everyone  shows  his  rever- 
ence in  a  different  way.  Some  by  merely  taking  off  their  hats 
while  in  church  or  as  is  written  in  (3),  others  by  showing  it  in 
their  lives,  by  that  I  mean  that  they  follow  Christ  in  their  way, 
to  show  reverence  for  his  teaching  and  by  the  pure  and  helping 
lives  they  lead. 

The  teachers  were  not  specially  requested  to 
comment  on  the  attitude  of  reverence.  The  Seventh 
Grade  teacher,  however,  volunteered  the  following 
account : 

"The  pupils  are  increasingly  reverent  during  prayer  in  the 
chapel  and  in  class.  Last  year  I  heard  whispering  during  prayer. 
Have  never  heard  it  recently.  The  pupils  bow  their  heads  in 
class  waiting  for  me  to  pray  at  the  opening  of  the  lesson.  They 
like  the  printed  prayers.  The  response  seems  to  be  a  tender 
feeling,  not  one  of  fear  or  awe." 

These  comments  put  us  in  touch  with  the  spirit 
of  reverence  itself  which  the  services  aimed  to  culti- 
vate. But  the  above  account  must  not  be  taken 
as  the  sole  criterion  or  the  conclusive  evidence  of 
the  effects  of  the  services.  Further  evidence  of  the 
presence  of  a  real  and  intelligent  feeling  of  reverence 
will  incidentally  appear  in  the  following  paragraphs, 
which  are  quotations  from  the  observations  of  the 
teachers  concerning  the  relation  of  the  services  to 
the  attitudes. 


188  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

Grade  I 

"The  chapel  services  prove  of  great  interest  and  value  to  the 
children,  especially  as  new  features  are  introduced  from  time  to 
time.    A  new  school  prayer,  an  organ  solo,  or  a  selection  by  the 
choir  is  always  noted  by  them  with  evident  pleasure  and  satis- 
faction.    Last  Sunday  morning  I  tested  the  class  as  to  their 
reaction  to  that  morning's  chapel  service. 
11  children  were  present. 
7  enjoyed  the  story  most. 
[  4  reproduced  the  story  in  good  style. 
^  1  liked  the  organ  best. 
1  liked  the  new  opening  sentence  by  the  choir — 'Holy,  holy, 
holy' — saying,   'It  was    much   prettier  than  the  one  they 
used  to  sing.' 
1  liked  the  hymn  '  God  is  my  Strong  Salvation ' — because  of  its 

familiarity. 
1  made  no  report." 

The  following  comment  from  the  same  teacher 
was  unsolicited: 

"You  may  be  interested  to  know  that  my  pupils  brought  up 
the  matter  of  chapel  service  to-day,  before  I  had  had  opportunity 
to  get  fairly  settled  in  the  class  room,  which  is,  I  think,  an  indi- 
cation that  many  of  them  are  attending  to  that  service  very 
definitely,  are  selecting  and  judging  all  the  while.  I  was  not 
able  to  go  into  their  reasons  for  their  choice  to-day,  but  you  may  be 
interested  in  the  vote  taken.    There  were  ten  of  my  pupils  present. 

7  selected  the  story  as  the  most  interesting  part  of  the  service. 

4  were  able  to  give  a  fair  reproduction  of  the  story. 

3  found  the  music  most  delightful. 

2  commented  on  the  new  choir  sentence. 

"These  pupils  have  now,  I  feel,  found  their  places  in  the  Sun- 
day school.  Now  they  are  not  only  enabled  to  take  part  in  the 
service,  but  they  do  it  with  comparatively  great  power.  They 
seem  to  feel  a  strong  relationship  to  the  other  classes." 


The  Results  of  Worship  189 

Grade  n^ 

"The  children  made  these  statements  about  chapel  services: 
'I  like  the  chapel  services  because  the  windows  are  so  beautiful. 
I  like  the  stories,  I  like  our  prayers.  I  like  to  march  in  with  the 
other  children.  I  like  the  music.  I  like  to  bow  my  head  when 
we  pray.     The  chapel  is  very  still  and  I  like  it.' 

"I  notice  that  the  children  all  bow  their  heads  in  prayer,  that 
they  are  quieter,  that  they  enjoy  the  stories  and  give  better 
attention.  That  they  have  more  pride  in  passing  in  and  out  of 
the  chapel.  That  fewer  children  are  tardy,  because  they  do  not 
want  to  miss  chapel.  That  they  are  anxious  to  take  part  in  the 
prayers  and  songs." 

Grade  III 

The  teacher  of  Grade  III  asked  her  pupils  to  write 
what  they  thought  about  the  chapel  service.  These 
are  some  of  the  replies: 

1.  First  I  like  the  prayers.  Then  I  like  the  stories.  And  I  like 
the  singing.  And  I  don't  dislike  anything.  And  I  can't  think  of 
anything  that  ought  to  be  there. 

2.  What  I  like:  To  pray,  sing  and  be  good.  What  I  don't 
like:  Not  to  play  in  chapel. 

3.  I  like  the  stories  best.  I  like  the  singing  next  best.  I  don't 
like  the  order  in  chapel.     I  think  the  order  could  improve. 

4.  I  like  the  stories  I  hear  in  chapel  on  Sunday  morning  be- 
cause they  teach  us  a  lesson  and  they  are  very  beautiful.  I  like 
the  singing  because  I  am  happy  when  they  are  singing.  The 
windows  in  the  chapel  are  so  pretty  with  the  Hght  shining  through 
them. 

5.  I  like  having  the  song  cards  best.  There  is  nothing  I  do  not 
like.     There  is  nothing  I  would  like  to  have  (in  addition). 

1.  Other  comments  of  this  teacher  on  the  service  are  found  under  Gen- 
eral Impressions  on  Gratitude,  page  172. 


190  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

The  teacher  of  Grade  IV  writes: 

"I  account  for  the  fine  spirit  manifested  in  the  class: 

(1)  Because  of  the  universal  feeling  of  goodwill  and  good 
home  training  shown  by  all  these  children  from  the  first. 

(2)  Because  the  whole  influence  of  the  School  has  fostered 
and  increased  this." 

The  Sixth  Grade  teacher  spoke  in  her  report 
of  the  marked  effect  of  the  stories  told  in  the  ser- 
vices upon  her  various  pupils,  and  quoted  their 
comments  on  them. 

The  comments  of  the  teacher  of  Grade  VII  ap- 
pear under  the  various  General  Impressions  above 
quoted. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  year  the  pupils  of  the 
Fourth  Grade  suggested  that  it  would  be  a  good 
plan  for  the  class  to  have  a  prayer  of  its  own  to  use 
in  its  class  exercises.  So  the  teacher  said  that  any 
of  the  children  who  wished  to  do  so  might  bring,  on  the 
following  Sunday,  what  they  thought  would  be  an 
appropriate  prayer.  These  ten  prayers  were  vol- 
unteered by  different  pupils.  They  are  reproduced 
as  handed  in.^ 

Thank  you  for  our  food  and  shelter  clothing  and  father  and 
mother  and  health.  Forgive  us  if  we  have  done  evil  and  have 
forgotten.    Help  us  to  be  reverent. 

Our  Father  in  Heaven,  we  thank  Thee  for  our  blessings.  For 
our  shelter  and  our  food,  for  our  mothers  and  our  fathers.  Help 
us  to  be  good  and  kind  to  the  poor  and  unfortunate.  Help  us  to 
be  Thy  Greatful  Children. 

1.  Corrections  in  spelling  are  made  where  the  meaning  would  otherwise 
be  obscured. 


Tlie  Results  of  Worship  191 

Our  Heavenly  Father  we  thank  thee  for  all  the  things  thou 
givest  us.  We  have  sinned  many  times  but  we  hope  thou  wilt 
forgive  us.  You  have  given  us  our  earthly  mothers  and  fathers. 
Our  eyes  to  see  with,  our  nose  to  smell  with,  our  arms  and  hands 
to  feel  with,  our  legs  to  walk  with,  our  ears  to  hear  with,  and 
our  mouths  to  eat  with  and  many  other  wonderful  things. 

We  thank  thee  and  wish  thee  to  help  us  to  use  them  in  the 
right  way. 

This  we  ask  in  Jesus  name.    Amen. 

Dear  Lord,  help  us  to  be  good,  and  help  us  to  have  sweet  tempers 
and  be  kind  to  all  people  who  are  worse  off  than  we.  Please  help 
us  to  be  satisfied  with  all  wte  have.  And  please  give  us  all  we  need. 
Please  forgive  us  all  our  sins,  for  we  are  sorry  for  all  the  wrong 
we  do.  Sometimes  we  know  we're  doing  something  wrong,  and 
then  we  are  very  sorry,  other  times  we  forget.  We  thank  Thee, 
Heavenly  Father,  for  all  you  have  given  us.  All  the  toys  that 
we  have,  our  lovely  homes,  and  the  good  schools  we  are  sent  to, 
and  all  the  food  and  clothing  we  have.  And  we  thank  Thee 
heartily  for  our  fathers  and  mothers  whom  Thou  hast  sent  to 
care  for  us,  and  we  pray  that  nothing  may  happen  to  them.    Amen. 

O  Lord  we  come  before  you  in  prayer.  Forgive  our  sins  even 
as  we  forgive  our  friends  sins.  Thou  hast  made  a  vast  and  beauti- 
ful earth  for  us,  that  we  may  be  happy.  But  most  of  all  thou  hast 
given  us  our  parents  and  friends  and  brothers  and  sisters.  Help 
us  in  the  path  of  life,  give  us  strength  to  do  wonderful  things  and 
minds  to  think.    We  love  thee  even  as  everyone  else.    Amen. 

O  King  and  Father 

of  us  all. 
We  come  to  thee 
To   worship  thee 
That  loveth  all. 
Pray  hear  our  call. 

Our  Father  in  Heaven;  we  thank  Thee  for  Thy  watchful  care 
over  Thy  little  children.  Please  Oh  God  forgive  our  sins  for  we 
are  but  children.    Amen. 


192  Worship  in  the  Sunday  Sdhoot 

Oh,  God  our  Father;  We  thank  Thee  for  all  Thy  bountiful 
gifts  and  loving  kindness,  and  we  pray  to  Thee  to  forgive  our 
sins  and  help  us  to  do  right.  Through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. 

Oh  God  our  Father  we  thank  Thee  for  all  Thy  kindness,  and 
we  pray  to  thee  to  forgive  our  sins.    Amen. 

Our  Heavenly  Father,  Thou  hast  given  us  so  many  things* 
we  want  to  thank  you  for  all  your  blessings,  and  many  kindnesses- 

Help  us  to  lead  good  and  noble  lives,  and  be  with  us  always. 
Amen. 

We  thank  thee  for  the  many  things  you  have  given  and  here- 
after give  us. 

A  somewhat  similar  incident  occurred  in  Grade  V 
which  is  here  described  by  the  teacher: 

"Since  last  January,  different  members  of  the  class  have  vol- 
unteered to  come  on  the  platform  to  lead  in  prayer.  The  leader 
always  announced  the  prayer  he  or  she  wished  to  give,  while 
the  other  members  of  the  class  joined  in  concert. 

One  Sunday  in  March,  the  children  were  asked  if  each  one 
would  like  to  Write  a  little  prayer  of  his  own.  It  was  interesting 
to  note  each  child  voluntarily  coming  to  the  desk  for  pencil  and 
paper  and  quietly  stealing  away  to  write  his  prayer.  The  thought- 
ful expression  shown  was  indicative  of  true,  earnest  effort." 

The  following  are  the  prayers  as  they  were 
written. 

Dear  Father  in  heaven. 

Thou  hast  tought  us  to  love  and  honor  thee.  If  we  go  your 
way  we  will  always  be  doing  right.  We  hope  we  are  doing 
better  every  day.  We  try  to  repay  you  but  all  we  can  do  is  to 
be  good  and  help  others.  Oh  heavenly  father  we  are  not  half 
so  good  as  you  but  if  we  try  and  honor  you  you  will  help  us. 
You  have  given  us  our  homes,  our  friends  our  food.  Every- 
thing we  have  has  come  from  your  store  of  bounty  us  gifts.  Oh! 
heavenly  father  we  will  try  to  do  better  in  the  future,  so  that  we 
can  show  our  gratefullness  to  you.    Amen. 


The  Results  of  Worship  193 

O  heavenly  father  our  hearts  are  full  of  thankfulness.  For 
our  food  our  clothes  our  home  and  friends.  We  make  mistakes 
and  great  sins.  We  forget  that  we  are  living  in  this  world  that 
God  has  given  it  to  us.  But  God  is  still  forgiving  to  us  always 
and  helping  us.  Please  forgive  our  sins  and  make  our  friends 
happy.     Amen. 

Some  people  try  to  pray  but  do  not  know  how  for  they  have 
not  been  to  church  so  we  thy  children  are  trying  to  teach  the 
people  about  your  goodness. 

Oh,  Lord  we  do  a  good  many  wrongs  in  a  day.  but  you  are  kind 
and  tender  and  you  forgive  us  And  we  must  try  to  do  better, 
and  we  must  keep  on  trying  And  we  will  keep  on  trying  for  you 
are  in  us,  and  helping  us  all  of  the  time. 

Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven  we  thank  thee  for  all  the  things 
thou  doest  for  us.  We  thank  thee  for  the  fruits,  the  flowers,  the 
waters  and  trees.    Everything  is  yours. 

We  try  to  please  you  by  loving  and  helping  others. 

Our  father  in  heaven,  day  by  day  are  we  wronging  thee,  in 
many  ways  Sometimes  we  are  angry,  sometimes  selfish;  but 
always  art  thou  kind  and  forgiving.  Help  us,  then,  our  father, 
to  be  better  and  more  willing,  every  day,  that  we  may  be  more 
like  him  who  died  for  us  long  ago.  Amen. 
Now  I  wake  to  see  the  light, 

I  pray  the  Lord  to  guide  me  right. 
In  all  I  do  and  think  and  say, 

I  pray  the  Lord  to  guide  my  way.    Amen, 

Father  in  Heaven  we  thank  Thee  for  all  the  things  Thou  hast 
given  us.  Thou  hast  been  so  good  to  us.  Always  helpful,  happy, 
never  tell  lies,  not  steal,  or  not  bad  will  help  us  in  this  world  to 
have  another  Heaven.  Father  help  us  to  do  these  things  so  we 
may  be  with  You  when  we  leave  this  world.  We  ask  in  your 
name.    Amen. 

Our  father  who  art  in  heaven. 
We  thank  thee  for  all  thou  hast  done  for  us. 
WTien  we  do  wrong  you  are  always  ready  to  forgive. 
May  we  work  with  thee  to  spread  thy  kingdom  of  Tightness 
through  all  the  earth. 
13 


194  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

Our  father  which  art  in  heaven.  Freely  dost  thou  give  us 
all  things.  Thou  our  father,  watches  over  us  night  and  day, 
darkness  makes  no  difiFerence  with  thee. 

Help  us,  while  life  is  ours,  to  do  good,  and  help  other  people 
to  do  good.  May  we  ever  honor  thee  and  Christ.  May  we  help 
thee  convert  the  people  that  don't  beheve  you  and  Christ.    Amen. 

Our  father  who  art  in  heaven 

We  thank  you  for  the  many  things  you  have  brought  us. 

Thou  art  glad  when  we  do  right 

Thou  art  the  friend  of  every  living  thing.     Amen. 

Our  Heavenly  Father  we  thank  Thee  for  Thy  many  blessings 
and  for  everything  that  is  ours. 

May  we  spread  Thy  kingdom  of  goodness  and  happiness  through 
all  the  earth  and  may  we  make  the  world  a  little  better  than  it 
would  have  been  if  we  had  never  been  in  it.    Amen. 

It  is  remarkable  how  these  two  sets  of  prayers 
seem  to  incorporate  the  spirit  and  the  ideas  of  the 
Periods  so  far  passed  through.  Penitence  is  a  fre- 
quent mood  here,  and  is  a  natural,  spontaneous 
application  of  the  positive  emphasis  of  the  services, 
which  rarely  introduced  the  idea  of  penitence.  And 
best  of  all,  these  prayers  are  trul}^  Christian;  to  these 
children  God  is  in  a  very  real  sense  their  Heavenly 
Father. 

If  a  general  statement  concerning  the  effects  of 
the  services  on  the  feelings  and  ideas  oi  the  pupils 
may  be  ventured,  it  is  that  there  is  suflBcient  evidence 
to  indicate: 

(1)  That  the  services  have  helped  pupils  in  every 
grade,  from  the  first  to  the  eighth,  either  in  respect 
to  attitude,  or  to  idea,  or  to  both. 


The  Results  of  Worship  195 

(2)  That  development  of  the  first  two  attitudes 
and  probably  of  the  third  occurred  in  some  pupils 
of  every  grade  which  reported. 

(3)  That  some  pupils  in  every  grade  showed  growth 
in  their  understanding  of  one  attitude,  or  another. 

(4)  That  most  of  the  pupils  who,  in  the  tests, 
did  not  manifest  any  change,  already  understood 
the  idea. 

(5)  That  the  failure  of  some  of  the  tests  to  indi- 
cate changes  in  the  idea  is  no  conclusive  proof  of 
the  failure  of  the  services. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Services 

Professor  G.  A.  Coe,  who  has  been  Chairman  of 
the  Supervisory  Committee  in  charge  of  the  School 
since  it  was  reorganized,  has  contributed  the  fol- 
lowing observations  upon  the  worship. 

"The  experiment  in  worship  that  was  started  by  this  school 
in  the  autumn  of  1910  has  included  the  following  factors: 

"1.  Common  worship  of  the  whole  school  (with  exception  of 
the  Kindergarten,  which  attends  only  about  once  a  month)  as 
distinguished  from  graded  worship  by  departments. 

"2.  Hence,  an  endeavor  to  employ  only  such  material  as 
appeals  to  universal  sentiments.  We  have  excluded,  on  the  one 
hand,  child-hymns  and  child-prayers,  and  on  the  other  hand, 
hymns  and  prayers  that  turn  upon  adult  interest  in  dogma,  or 
upon  peculiarly  adult  experience,  and  crises.  Child-hymns  and 
child-prayers  are  used,  however,  in  some  of  the  classes  separately. 

"3.  The  unsparing,  though  regulated  use  of  stimuli  of  a  high 
order — a  gothic  chapel,  organ  music  of  excellent  quality,  the 
procession — together  with  careful  attention  to  form,  and  exclusion 
of  distractions  such  as  the  giving  of  notices  and  speech-making. 

"4.  Constant  endeavor  to  avoid  separation  between  feeling 


196  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

and  idea.  Hence  the  regular  inclusion  of  instruction,  whether  by 
story  or  talk  from  the  Principal,  by  specially  prepared  common 
prayers,  or  by  discussion  of  the  meaning  of  a  hymn  or  other  act 
of  worship. 

"5.  Avoidance  of  formalism,  both  by  developing  thoughtful- 
ness  through  the  means  just  described,  and  by  varying  the  service. 
The  passages  of  Scripture,  always  recited  from  memory;  the  mem- 
orized prayers;  the  sentence  by  the  choir  of  children;  the  order 
and  plan  of  the  service — all  these  change  occasionally.  Now  and 
then,  moreover,  an  entirely  new,  often  unexpected,  item  appears, 
as  an  anthem  by  the  choir,  an  organ  solo,  or  a  vocal  solo.  Finally, 
the  great  Christian  festivals,  the  seasonal  changes,  and  national 
occasions  receive  recognition. 

"6.  Cooperation  on  the  part  of  teachers  in  their  respective 
classes.  Here  the  meanings  of  the  worship  have  been  discussed, 
and  the  pupils  have  been  drilled  in  hymns,  prayers,  and  Scripture 
that  require  memorization.  During  the  present  season  this  coop- 
eration has  been  so  perfect  that  new  common  prayers,  and  even 
general  changes  in  the  order  of  service  have  been  introduced 
without  a  hitch,  and  with  full  participation  on  the  part  of  the 
pupils,  though  the  coming  changes  had  never  been  mentioned  in 
the  service  itself. 

"7.  Through  all  this  planning  runs  a  design  that  the  pupils 
themselves  shall  worship  rather  than  witness  worship,  and  that 
their  worship  shall  be  social, — the  act  of  individuals,  indeed,  but 
of  individuals  conscious  of  one  another  as  a  school. 

"Having  been  a  careful  observer  of  these  services  from  the  out- 
set, but  not  a  participant  in  the  conduct  of  them,  I  am,  perhaps, 
in  a  position  to  form  a  judgment  concerning  the  immediate  re- 
sponse of  the  pupils,  that  is,  their  reaction  during  the  service 
itself.  It  is  clear  to  me  that  what  I  call  the  worship-situation 
has  presented  itself  to  the  pupils  as  real,  not  artificial.  Their 
response,  that  is,  is  a  response  to  the  elements  of  the  service 
itself,  not  to  something  else  that  is  merely  associated  with  it. 
Of  course  the  attention  of  the  youngest  pupils  is  often  attracted 
to  the  externals  of  the  service  rather  than  to  the  content  of  it. 
Yet,  even  including  these  pupils,  I  am  certain  of  the  religious 


The  Results  0/  Worship  197 

vitality  of  the  response.  Extraneous  motives  have  been  avoided; 
nothing  outside  worship  has  been  used  to  make  worship  attrac- 
tive. Further,  the  element  of  mere  drill  has  been  kept  at  the 
lowest  possible  point — a  point  so  low  that  our  only  doubt  has 
been  whether  we  have  not  gone  to  an  extreme  in  the  direction  of 
freedom.  Nevertheless,  the  whole  conduct  of  the  pupils  during  the 
worship  has  been,  with  rare  exceptions,  attentive,  reverent,  and 
obviously  pleasurable.  We  have  still  to  determine  the  relative 
responsiveness  of  the  different  grades — a  complicated  problem — 
but  there  is  abundant  reason  to  assert  that  the  group  maintains 
a  good  degree  of  unity,  and  that  the  twenty  minutes  of  worship 
are  minutes  of  happy  self-expression. 

"A  peculiar  item  of  evidence  that  this  response  is  directed  to 
the  elements  of  the  service  and  not  to  anything  extraneous  is  as 
follows:  During  the  season  of  1911-12  it  was  the  custom  of 
Mr.  Stowell,  the  Principal,  to  introduce  his  story  or  talk  with 
questions  directed  to  the  pupils.  As  children  of  certain  grades 
readily  undertook  to  answer  these  questions,  there  came  into  the 
service  an  element  of  surprise  and  expectancy  which  the  Princi- 
pal was  able  to  use  as  a  means  of  control.  During  the  present 
season.  Principal  Hartshome  has  dispensed  mth  such  question- 
ing. The  worship,  as  a  consequence,  has  been  more  solemn,  and 
it  has  called  for  more  sustained  attention  from  the  pupils.  Yet 
their  attentiveness  has  not  decreased;  if  anything,  it  has  increased. 

"The  conclusion  to  which  I  come  is  that  the  school  really 
worships,  and  that  we  are  therefore  ready  for  the  further  question 
whether  the  immediate  response  here  noted  extends  or  can  be 
made  to  extend  into  subsequent  conduct." 

The  Chorister,  Mr.  Irving  M.  Anderson,  estimates 
the  worship  as  follows : 

"Is  the  service  in  the  chapel  at  the  opening  of  the  weekly 
session  of  the  Union  School  of  Religion  cultivating  in  the  pupils 
a  spirit  of  worship.?  I  am  attempting  to  answer  this  question  by 
stating  certain  objective  facts  which  I  have  observed  in  the 
attitude  of  the  pupils  during  the  service  as  well  as  immediately 


198  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

before  it.  In  estimating  the  bearing  of  these  facts  upon  the 
answer  to  the  question,  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  material 
used  and  the  acts  performed  are  those  of  worship.  The  observa- 
tions are  as  follows: 

"1.  As  the  members  of  the  choir  are  passing  through  the  cloister 
on  the  way  to  the  chapel,  they  engage  in  lively,  sometimes  noisy, 
conversation.  \Mien  the  procession  reaches  the  vestibule,  how- 
ever, laughing  and  talking  suddenly  cease  and  quietness  and 
attention  take  their  place. 

"2.  The  singing  of  the  processional  and  recessional  hymns  is 
characterized  by  an  orderly  demeanor.  The  present  chorister  has 
never  found  it  necessary  to  reprove  members  of  the  choir  for  dis- 
order during  the  singing  of  the  processional  hymn;  and  during  the 
singing  of   the  recessional,   not  more  than  two  or  three  times. 

"3.  During  the  rest  of  the  service  the  order  is  usually  good, 
seldom  calling  for  reproof.  The  order  of  the  pupils  seated  in  the 
pews  is  beyond  criticism.  I  have  never  seen  the  slightest  indica- 
tion of  disorder  among  any  of  the  classes. 

"4.  The  several  parts  of  the  service  hold  the  attention  of  the 
pupils  well.  During  the  teUing  of  a  brief  story,  which  is  usually 
one  of  the  features  of  the  service,  the  pupils  give  especially  good 
attention.  The  interest  of  the  younger  pupils  in  particular  is 
clearly  shown  in  the  eager,  attentive  look  of  their  faces. 

"5.  The  participation  of  the  children  in  the  portions  of  the 
service  in  which  they  are  expected  to  take  part  is  general  and 
hearty,  depending  principally  upon  their  familiarity  with  the 
material  of  expression.  The  great  care  taken  in  the  preparation 
of  prayers  and  in  the  selection  of  psalms  and  hymns  to  include 
only  such  material  as  the  pupils  can  be  expected  to  repeat  as  the 
expression  of  their  own  experience  is  reflected  in  the  heartiness  of 
their  response. 

"It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that  all  of  the  points  which  I  have 
mentioned  tend  to  sustain  an  affirmative  answer  to  our  question. 
I  believe  that  we  are  justified  in  saying  that  the  pupils  of  the 
Union  School  of  Religion,  during  the  weekly  service  in  the  chapel, 
enter  into  the  spirit  of  worship." 


CHAPTER  IX 
CONCLUSIONS 

Guiding  Principles  for  the  Planning  and 
Conduct  of  Sunday-School  Worship 

It  would  appear  then  that  the  main  contribution 
of  this  whole  discussion  lies  in  the  construction  of 
services  on  the  plans  laid  out  in  Chapter  VII,  in 
accordance  with  definite  psychological  laws  and  for 
a  definite  purpose.  Yet  it  has  seemed  helpful  to 
bring  to  the  support  of  the  practice  there  described 
such  evidence  of  results  as  the  nature  of  the  case 
permitted.  This  evidence  was  collected  for  only 
a  part  of  the  series  described,  but  it  is  sufficient  to 
add  confidence  to  the  pursuance  of  the  same  method 
in  the  rest  of  the  series  or  in  any  services  of  similar 
type. 

If  the  results  indicate  any  danger  in  the  method, 
it  may  perhaps  be  that  of  failing  to  make  instruction 
broad  enough  and  definite  enough.  Both  of  these 
limitations,  if  they  exist,  could  be  overcome  easily 
if  the  services  were  more  frequent  or  if  instruction 
in  an  attitude,  whether  consecutive  or  interrupted, 
could  extend  over  many  more  Sundays. 

With  the  preceding  chapters  in  mind,  the  follow- 
ing principles  are  formulated  for  the  construction 
of  a  service  of  worship  which  can  take  a  vital  place  in 
the  Christian  education  of  children. 

199 


200  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

I.  The  service  should  make  real  and  concrete  the 
content  of  the  Christian  purpose.  This  is  of  course 
a  corollary  of  the  underlying  aims  of  religious  edu- 
cation which  were  suggested  in  Chapter  I. 

II.  It  should  afford  training  in  worship  by  giving 
the  children  an  opportunity  to  participate  in  a  ser- 
vice which  they  can  understand  and  appreciate. 
That  is,  the  service  should  have  the  children  actually 
reach  at  least  the  beginning  of  the  experience  of 
worship  described  in  Chapters  II  and  VI. 

III.  The  service  should  afford  training  through 
worship  in  the  fundamental  attitudes  which  religious 
education  expects  to  develop  in  the  children.  The 
most  important  of  these  attitudes  were  analyzed  in 
Chapter  IV,  namely,  Gratitude,  Goodwill,  Rever- 
ence, Faith  and  Loyalty. 

IV.  The  attitudes  which  it  is  desired  to  develop 
should  be  made  concrete  and  given  a  well-understood 
ideational  content.  They  should  also  be  defined  in 
relation  to  the  Christian  purpose. 

V.  This  implies  definite  instruction  in  the  form  of 
story,  talk,  prayer,  and  so  on. 

VI.  In  order  to  make  certain  of  actual  changes  in 
feeling-attitudes,  the  service  must  be  constructed 
in  accordance  with  the  psychology  of  feeling  and 
emotion,  outlined  in  Chapters  V  and  VI  in  its  rela- 
tion to  education  and  worship.  Certain  useful 
principles  emerge  from  that  discussion. 


Conclusions  201 

1.  The  atmosphere  should  be  one  of  pleasure  or 
joy,  in  order  that  the  direction  given  to  thought  and 
action  may  have  a  firm  neural  organization  from 
the  vitalizing  effect  of  satisfaction  as  well  as  from  repe- 
tition, and  in  order  to  associate  the  attitude  with 
the  sense  of  conviction. 

2.  This  involves  the  use  of  suitable  music,  and 
the  general  esthetic  organization  of  the  service. 

3.  There  should  be  abundant  opportunity  for  ex- 
pression on  the  part  of  the  pupils,  both  in  the  service 
and  after  it.  This  involves  the  use  of  common 
prayers,  hymns,  psalms,  and  occasions  for  making 
concrete  expressions  of  gratitude,  goodwill,  and  so  on. 

4.  In  the  instructional  aspect  of  the  service  es- 
pecially, but  in  the  rest  of  the  service  as  well,  the 
following  principles  apply: 

(1)  The  subject  may  be  presented  in  such  a  way 
as  to  stir  the  emotions  of  the  children  sufficiently  to 
arouse  an  old  mood  or  to  permit  the  establishment 
of  a  new  one. 

(2)  The  mood  or  attitude  aimed  at  may  be  con- 
nected with  such  experiences  as  already  are  associ- 
ated with  that  mood. 

(3)  Or  it  may  be  made  attractive  and  connected 
with  ideas  and  experiences  already  found  to  be 
attractive. 

(4)  It  should  be  presented  in  a  situation  which 
the  children  will  follow  to  the  extent  of  identifying 
their  own  will  with  the  attitude  desired. 


202  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School 

VII.  Participation  in  the  expression  of  feeling  and 
idea  should  be  as  general  as  possible  for  the  sake  of 
its  effect  on  the  socializing  of  the  individual  will. 

VIII.  This  involves  the  careful  adaptation  of  the 
service — psalms,  hymns,  prayers  and  stories — to 
pupils  of  all  ages. 

IX.  The  attitudes  must  be  approved  by  the  hearty 
cooperation  of  leaders  and  teachers  in  the  service  of 
worship. 

In  the  progress  of  the  discussion  certain  points 
have  been  emphasized  which  may  perhaps  be  re- 
garded as  contributing  something  to  the  theory  of 
worship.  In  Chapter  I  the  attempt  was  made  to 
indicate  that  individual  leadership  has  been  as  in- 
fluential as  the  "social  consciousness"  in  determining 
the  development  of  the  forms  and  values  of  worship. 
This  brings  out  the  prominence  of  the  individual 
in  the  control  of  religious  ceremonies.  This  sug- 
gests, in  Chapter  IV,  the  leader's  responsibility  to 
the  community  for  the  purposes  and  results  of  wor- 
ship in  the  Sunday  school.  Although  the  general 
function  of  Sunday-school  worship  has  been  stated 
elsewhere  in  terms  of  feeling  and  attitude,  no  very 
definite  formulation  of  such  attitudes  seems  to  have 
been  made.  In  Chapter  IV,  therefore,  a  statement 
of  the  purpose  of  worship  in  terms  of  specific  Chris- 
tian attitudes  is  proposed,  and  these  are  analyzed 
in  terms  of  social  situations  and  responses  which 
give  the  attitudes  a  Christian  significance. 


Conclusions  203 

In  Chapter  VI  it  is  suggested  that  public  worship 
and  mysticism,  while  similar  in  the  psychological 
processes  involved,  differ  from  each  other  in  such 
ways  as  these:  (1)  Public  worship  is  social;  mysticism 
tends  to  be  individualistic.  (2)  Public  worship  at- 
tempts to  bring  the  individual  to  the  freedom  of 
rational  self-control  and  divine  cooperation;  mysti- 
cism seeks  freedom  through  submission  to  external 
control  and  divine  authority.  And  finally,  in  Chap- 
ter VIII,  a  possible  method  for  testing  the  effects 
of  worship  is  proposed  and  carried  out. 

This  tentative  study  of  worship  in  its  relation 
to  the  Sunday  school  may  serve  to  point  out  the  way 
to  more  adequate  experimenting  and  investigation 
in  this  field.  The  author  dares  to  hope  that  it  may 
also  prove  of  some  practical  use  to  those  who  are 
already  wrestling  with  the  diflScult  problems  of 
planning  and  conducting  services  of  worship  for 
children. 


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